


Clinical

by LunarboundLunaria



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Bickering, Blood and Injury, Developing Relationship, Documentation, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/F, Falling In Love, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Light Angst, Moicy, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Overwatch - Freeform, Pining, Post-Fall of Overwatch, Romance, Sexual Tension, Tags Contain Spoilers, Team Talon (Overwatch), Violence, cursing, medical drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-01-25 02:54:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21349069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunarboundLunaria/pseuds/LunarboundLunaria
Summary: Overwatch ultimately failed to stop Team Talon assassinating Mondatta, an omnic who supported omnic equality, which fueled the flames of a revolution and began a war between bot and man that plunged the world into total chaos. During this, Overwatch disbanded, and ex-members are blamed for starting the war and are wanted dead. Angela, who left Overwatch before they disbanded and keeps her past a secret, has opened a clinic in a part of a dilapidated abandoned mall. Only those she trusts know of her location, but she becomes surprised when she gets an unexpected patient.
Relationships: Moira O'Deorain/Angela "Mercy" Ziegler
Comments: 23
Kudos: 126





	1. Home

“Is this thing on?” Angela spoke out loud, adjusting a small camcorder that she had sat on her desk. She leaned back in her office chair, checking the video screen that was attached to the camcorder. It showed the recording of her back to herself, she who still wore her tattered lab coat, which was no longer white and was a darker egg-shell color with stains from every patient she has helped while her green scrubs underneath had one leg completely torn off to the thigh and the other frayed at the end with holes and rips all the way up the leg. Her blonde hair was pulled back messily in a clip, clinging to her face and some loose strands drooped to her shoulders. She felt a pang in her chest as she missed the peaceful times before this, back when she had makeup and was able to take daily showers and enjoy a nice glass of wine at night…

No.

Thinking about the before times wasn’t going to help her. She should be thankful that she and her patients were in a safe place, away from both humans and omnics searching to harm her, and that her patients and she had working electricity, and that she had friends who kept her clinic safe and helped bring food, meds, and water to her. She took a deep breath, starting the documentation over.

“This is doctor Angela Ziegler, recording out of King’s Row…” She opted to not state anymore about the clinic’s location nor name. 

“I… decided to start recording my pursuits of healing the injured throughout this bloodthirsty war. I have not, and will not, take a side during this conflict. I take any and all as a patient and keep them until they are fully healed if they’re willing to stay—most don’t. I chose King’s Row because, well, because the fighting is the worst here. The reason behind recording this is so, if anything were to happen to me, my… friends… past friends?” Angela paused, “Um, ex-coworkers, can learn what happened to me if they ever find this.” She then smiled, picking the camera up, “Let’s change the subject, shall we? This is my office and bedroom, there are a few empty rooms on this level that I still haven’t had time to think of what I want to do with; mostly I’ve been working on the other room, the main room, below on the first floor, it’s for the injured and sick.” She showed the camcorder her square-sized room. The door was on the back wall, on the left side in the corner. Her metallic desk, chair, and laptop were centered against the front wall, and a small light sat on the desk as well as many scattered papers. Two bookshelves sat on either side of the desk, and they were filled with thick medical books. Beside the door, against the right corner of the back wall, was her bed, pressed against the wall, with the foot of the bed near the door and the head of the bed against the right corner. A fan sat right in front of her bed to create a breeze, and a single light bulb hung from the ceiling. There weren’t any windows, and if there were, they would be boarded up anyway. 

“It’s small, but it’s home. Currently, downstairs, we have eight beds. My last patient, an omnic, left without my knowledge. Those that I’ve healed don’t know…” She turned the camera back to face her, “They think I’m just someone helping everyone, just a medic, but if they knew I had worked for Overwatch… I’m afraid those that I’ve healed would turn on me in a split second. Many blame Overwatch for what has happened…” She turned the camera back around, showing off a picture that she had on her desk, a picture of members from Overwatch—Winston, Genji, Tracer, Torbjorn, Bridgette, Reinhardt, all of her friends. “I know Overwatch wasn't perfect, not by a long shot, that's why I left when I did, but they didn’t cause this.” She turned the camera around again, her expression turning to one of anger, fire in her blue eyes, “You all know that Talon did this—Talon caused this, we didn't have a part in it besides trying to stop them from starting this bloodbath… and I will never forgive them for what they've done, and I hope this war they created takes them…” She paused for a second, shocked, as tears formed in her eyes as she reflected on what she had just said and realized that it didn’t sound like her. This war had brought out the worst in her, to the point where she cursed those who caused it to death. Did she really want them dead? She couldn’t fully answer that question, no matter how much she thought about it.

Suddenly, a loud bang rocked through the clinic and she closed the camcorder and turned the recording off. The bang, rhythmic in nature, caused her to stand up quickly and leave her room—that bang met she had a new patient. She hurried down the stairs, heading into the main hall, the only room downstairs that hadn’t been destroyed from debris. This room had eight beds, all different sizes, and colors, with medical equipment jammed in the cabinets surrounding the room. She reached the “door”, which was a thick, circular sheet of metal that hid the clinic away from eyesight deep inside the abandoned mall. She pulled the metal sheet away just enough to be able to see outside. There was someone writhing on the floor, curled up in a ball, and no one else around. Angela knew it was dangerous to stick her head out and look around any further, so she bent down and dragged the person through the slightly opened gap. The patient let out a groan, and Angela bit her lip, as she knew she was hurting them, “I’m sorry.” She muttered. She brought them inside, letting them go so she could quickly shut the metal "door" closed. She leaned down and picked the patient up, a pool of blood mixing with the dirt floor from where the patient had lain, and some bright red blood was added to Angela’s lab coat. As she carried the patient, she noticed that they had stopped writhing in pain, but were still breathing; they must have lost consciousness when she dragged them inside. Angela brought her new patient to a bed, lying them down on their back to assess the situation, and let out an audible gasp and backed away when she saw their face.

“Moira O’Deorain?”


	2. Patient

Click… click…

“There, it’s recording… I think? I hope? Yeah, the red light’s on…” These words could be heard off-camera before Angela came into view of the camcorder, which sat in its normal place on her desk. She sat down in her chair, staring at the lens, her hand covering her mouth. After a few moments of silence, she spoke.

“So, I got a new patient yesterday.” She moved the hand from her mouth, hunching down to rest her chin against the palm of her hand as she leaned against the desk.

“Yep, a new patient… um…” She looked away from the camera, “She was bleeding internally and well, heh, externally if you couldn’t tell.” She sat up to show the camera the newly added red stains on her lab coat. “She bled all over me… yay for more stains! That was sarcasm… she um, lost consciousness, probably from the pain as I kind of… dragged her across the floor to get her in the building quickly so I wouldn't have to step outside. I-uh, I don’t know who left her? Usually, they stay and say something or give me something they’ve scavenged, but nope, she was the only one out there. So, either they couldn’t stay around out of fear of being found out or… someone else knows of my location. Someone that I don’t know knows I’m here… and that, that’s scary.” Angela stated as she moved closer to her desk so she could grab a piece of paper and a pen to write down the patient’s current status.

“Can you still see me? Uh, no, ok, let me move the camcorder back some… there!" Angela said after making sure that she could see herself in the camcorder's screen. "Good, I can work and talk now… so, uh, getting back to the patient… I managed to assess the internal damage, which was thankfully mild. The best way to heal mild internal bleeding is rest and symptom control—monitoring her symptoms and making sure it doesn’t get any worse. I disinfected the flesh wound and sewed it back together, meaning more rest is needed as the stitches heal. I have pain medicine that I’ve given her, and more for when she wakes up, but I am getting low. I-I’ve been monitoring her heartbeat and breathing, both are stable. No more bleeding has occurred since the operation.” Angela paused, tapping the pen against her head gently as she stopped writing.

“There’s one issue with the patient… they’re part of… Talon. And I know what you’re going to say if you watch this, Winston or Tracer or Reinhardt or… any of you, if you’re… alive…um…” She cleared her throat, changing her voice to imitate Torbjorn, “Why did you heal her? Why did you help the enemy?” Angela chuckled nervously, changing her tone of voice back to her normal one, “I… I know I said I hoped they would all die… in this war, and here’s the perfect opportunity, right? A part of Team Talon, on my doorstep, bleeding out from what looked to be a shot from an omnic weapon and uh, I could’ve just… left them. I could’ve taken them back outside and let the omnics or the crazed, starving people get them. The end. One less Talon to worry about!” Angela sighed, her head falling into her hands, “I couldn’t. I thought about it. I really did. But… I’m supposed to heal these people and take no sides, I’m a doctor… I have morals!” She looked back up at the camcorder's lens through her fingers, “Yeah, I did the right thing! Right? Or… was it the right thing before… this? Are morals nothing now?” She stood up, pacing around her small room. “Well, I can at least keep her here while she heals and maybe get some answers out of her.” Angela paused, turning towards the camera, “Listen, I got this under control. Winston or whoever is watching this, in the future, just know, I will get plenty of information from—uh, it’s Moira O’Deorain, you remember her? I do… because she’s a geneticist, the one who did unethical work, but, I um, I can appeal to her science side with ease.” She looked straight at the recording of her, right into her own eyes, “I got this.”


	3. I Don't Got This

Angela woke up in the middle of the night, but this time it wasn’t from the warring outside—no, surprisingly, it was rather peaceful outside. This came from inside her own clinic, a loud screeching sound, followed by groaning. She groggily got up, trying to find her lab coat in the dark and put it on, which she did after she accidentally stubbed her toe on her desk (which caused her to curse under her breath in a mix of English and Swiss curse words), and she ran down the stairs, almost falling when she missed a step, but she was able to catch herself. She turned the main hall’s lights on and saw a ball of a woman near the metallic sheet door. Angela paused by the staircase, staring at the sight of her patient on the floor, who had pulled her IV out. She didn’t know what to do and was stunned in place until Moira’s voice broke the silence.

“Are you just going to stare or help me up? I know you’re there…”

“Uh… yeah, I’m… here, I’m here to help you, I mean, I-“

“Stop stuttering and lend me a hand. I think I pulled some stitches out.” She said through clenched teeth, gripping her side, and Angela saw some blood trickle through her fingers where she gripped at the wound.

“Of course, you did, you tried to escape! You tried to pull that heavy sheet of metal while wounded, I thought you were smarter than that Ms. Genetisist!” Angela shot back, but she still ran over to Moira’s side while berating her poor choices. She gently rolled her on her back, looking at the damage that was done to the large number of stitches that resided on the right side of her abdomen, near her bellybutton. Moira stared anywhere but at Angela, her heterochromia eyes narrowed from the pain as she tried not to let any noises of anguish out from her clenched lips.

“You did pull out some stitches—”

“Wow, really? Such an amazing observation you made there, Doctor.” Moira sneered.

Angela lowered her eyes, “I don’t have to take that from you…” she nearly growled as she pressed her finger across the wound, causing Moira to hiss out in pain. Angela leaned down to Moira’s right ear and muttered, “Make another remark like that and I’ll yank those stitches out myself and leave you here…” With that, she stood up, and went to get some medical supplies to disinfect the wound and stitch it back up as she decided that moving Moira with the stitches already threatening to open the wound back up fully was a bad idea—she could move her later, once the wound had been stabilized.

“Looks like the angel has turned into a demon… what happened to your mercy?” Moira said, breathing harder from the pain that Angela had inflicted upon her, but Angela made note that she felt well enough to make sarcastic remarks and therefore must not be too injured.

“I have no mercy for Talon…” She stated, coming back to Moira with the supplies.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I don’t care what you believe. Now, hold still. This shall sting, but not enough for what you deserve…” Angela scoffed as she poured the burning alcohol from the bottle onto the wound, swabbing it with a cotton ball to make sure it touched every part of the wound. Moira bit her lip, and Angela could see some blood dripping down her chin from the bite, and she snickered, “You’re such a wuss! Aren’t you used to pain, or maybe it’s only self-inflicted pain, hm?”

Moira let go of her lip, rolling her eyes as she let Angela work, staying silent and trying not to show any expression on her face—maybe Angela really did scare her into being quiet? Or maybe she just wanted Angela to focus on healing her wound? Either way, Angela appreciated the silence—Moira always got on her nerves the most out of all of Talon. Finally, she finished cleaning the wound up and sewed it back together. She left to put her supplies up, deciding now would be a good time to ask a few questions.

“Why were you out there? Why are you in King’s Row? Are there other Talon members here?”

“Why does it matter to you? You left Overwatch.” Moira answered back, nonchalantly. Angela turned to her and saw her trying to stand up.

“Don’t get up unless you want me to pour more cleaning alcohol on you and stitch you up again…” Angela growled her command, and Moira complied, lying back down. “I was just curious… did one of my people bring you or…?”

“I’m tired. I want to lie back in the bed.” Moira replied.

Angela sighed, shaking her head—she wasn’t getting any answers from her, at least, not with the approach she took. She thought she could interrogate her… well, maybe she still could. What did interrogators do? Remember Reyes and Morrison… they played bad cop, good cop… maybe she should try to be the bad cop? Angela walked over to Moira, standing above her, hands on her hips, and stated in a demanding voice, “I will not bring you back to bed unless you answer me, right now.”

Moira glared back up at her, “Then I’m sleeping here.” She declared stubbornly.

Angela let out an “Ugh!” sound, annoyed with her patient, “Why are you so headstrong!? Why does it matter to you!? I saved your LIFE! I could’ve let you die, you know!? I didn’t have to help you!” Angela spewed her anger out into threatening words, but Moira’s expression did not change.

“But you didn’t.”

“I-uh… what…?” Angela stammered, her anger dying down quickly at what Moira just said.

“You didn’t let me die. You cared enough to heal me… well, you didn’t care enough about me personally, just cared that I was someone in need of help and, well, you helped me, without even me begging you to. You still have those doctor morals in a world without morals, don’t you, Doctor Ziegler?”

“Don’t talk like you know morals, Moira, you’ve never had them to begin with.” Angela sneered back at her, but part of her hated to admit it, but she was right. Even now, it was causing every fiber in her body to not help her back to bed, to not give in, especially with how… poorly she looked. Moira always kept her looks up—she was always clean and sharply dressed, but here, now, lying on the dirt floor that was Angela’s clinic, she looked… normal, almost. Like a person who just needed aid. Her orange hair was matted with blood, her makeup smeared, and her black Talon outfit was ripped in multiple places, partly because of Angela so she could get to the wound and surrounding area easier. Her expression was one of anger and misery, and Angela couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

“Did you call me by my first name? Are we on a first-name basis now, _Angela?_ My you move so fast!” Moira mocked her, but Angela’s expression had lost any anger and had become soft. She leaned down, next to Moira, and said in a calming voice:

“Listen, I just want answers, and to help you. I’ll bring you to the bed and get you a different outfit to wear… if you just… help me back… I’m not in Overwatch anymore, you don’t have to… well, hate me, I guess. We’re not enemies right now.”

There was complete silence between both women, Angela staring straight at Moira, and Moira looking down at the floor. Finally, she met Angela’s eyes, and nodded, “I’ll tell you one thing if you do what you say and take me to bed and give me something to wear…”

“I will.” With that, Angela picked her up as carefully as she could, which still caused a bit of pain for Moira, who showed it on her face by clenching her jaw. “I’m sorry…”

“Don’t apologize to me, I don't need your sympathy.” She mumbled back. Ah, Moira would never change. Angela was surprised how light the other scientist was, noting that she was going to have to make sure that she was getting enough nutrients. Furthermore, Moira, even though she was trying to hide it, was shivering, and Angela felt pangs of guilt for how she was ready to leave her on the dirt floor to sleep all night long. She made it to the bed—a double with a whitish sheet and laid her in it. Angela went and got her a bottle of water and a large pill, handing them to her.

“It’s pain medicine, trust me, it’ll help.” When Moira hesitated, the doctor rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, “C’mon, if I wanted to get rid of you via medicine, I could’ve and would’ve done it already.” With that, Moira swallowed the large pill. Angela left, trying to find something for Moira to wear—thankfully, they had some clothes just for patients, and she found a black and white plaid button-up shirt (which was going to be a bit big on Moira, but it was the closest thing to her size) and some black sweatpants (which would also be baggy) and brought them back to her.

“I know it’s a bit… large, but these are honestly the closest to your size.” She handed them to her, “Need any help getting them on?” Angela asked, but Moira had paused any movement, looking at the clothes. Angela crossed her arms nervously, “I’m really sorry I don’t have anything else; I need to restock—”

“They’re… fine.” Moira said, through gritted teeth, obviously trying to hide her disappointment in the garments. “I uh… yeah, I need… some help.” Moira muttered, hating that she had to admit that she needed any type of help from Angela. “Can you help me with the tubes and attachments? Also… did you remove my tank from my back?”

“Yes, it was cracked. I put it under the bed.” Angela stated as she began removing the tubes that attached to Moira’s outfit and hands.

“Oh… well, I can fix it…” She replied as she began taking the wiring that was attached to her hands off of her. Angela paused her own work on removing the tubes to stare at Moira’s hands—one was normal, the other was grotesque, darker in color, almost like the skin was deteriorating, and her fingernails were claw-like. Angela found it, well, detestable, especially since it was well-known that Moira enjoyed self-experimentation and she most likely did that to herself…

“Is everything alright?” Moira asked as she carefully reached down to take her shoes off, trying not to harm her wound anymore than she had already.

“Yes! Uh, I got most of it off.” Angela sat down the attachments and tubes under the bed with the tank.

“I need to stand to take this off…” Moira muttered as she gestured to her Talon uniform, before looking down at her hands, twiddling her fingers.

“You can stand, just be careful and… support yourself on um, well, me, I guess.” Angela offered Moira her shoulder as there wasn’t anything else around to help her stand, and Moira slowly accepted the help and pulled herself up using Angela’s shoulder. She steadied herself and, while holding onto her shoulder, began taking her Talon outfit off.

There weren’t any issues, and the medicine was helping to keep the majority of the pain away, but when Moira took the top part of her outfit off Angela’s face heated up when she saw that the geneticist was braless underneath.

“Um…” She muttered out loud accidentally.

Moira glanced at Angela, whose eyes were wide and mouth agape, “Is… something the matter, Ziegler?” Moira asked, looking a bit bewildered by the other’s expression, “You really aren’t surprised by my breasts being exposed, are you? The outfit has a built-in bra, not like I even need it…” Moira said, poking fun at herself, trying to ease the awkward tension, but when Angela stayed silent from her shock, the orange-haired woman’s face twisted into a grin and she snickered as she spoke, “I guess you don’t get a lot of people here, right? Must be… frustrating to be all alone with only sick and injured people here… no one to give you what you need…”

“I can drop you, you know?” Angela grumbled, “Besides, I was… more shocked by how skinny you are…!” Angela hoped to God that Moira bought her lie, but, whether she did or not, she quickly began putting the button-up shirt on after Angela made that comment.

“Uh… yeah… I know um…” Moira muttered, buttoning the shirt up, and somehow Angela had made the conversation even worse as an awkward silence fell over them. Angela kept her head turned away from Moira (why hadn’t she done this in the first place!?) as Moira finished changing and Angela helped her back onto the bed. After a few more moments of awkward silence, Moira finally spoke:

“Well… what question would you like to ask me?”

Angela, who had made herself busy plugging Moira's IV back in, finished quickly and began heading towards the stairs, “Tomorrow! I’ll ask tomorrow, you need your sleep! Um... there's a chamberpot in the far corner in its own, closet-like, room. Now, don't pull your IV out again, you can move with it, alright? Now, goodnight!” She turned the light off and headed upstairs before Moira could say anything else.

Angela slammed open her door, and closed it shut, grabbing her camcorder, turning it on, and stared straight at it, her face a bright red.

"Uh-oh...” Was all she was able to mutter out loud.


	4. A Flood of Thoughts

Angela, sitting in front of her desk, gave a large yawn. Her eyelids hung heavily as she stared, half-asleep, at the camcorder that sat in front of her. She looked like she hadn’t gotten any sleep last night—which was pretty much true. She hadn’t even put on her lab coat yet since she was still debating if she should stay awake or head back to bed, so she kept her “sleep” attire on, which was just her auburn colored torn scrub pants and a black tank top; however, even though she was sitting up now, ready to record, she was ultimately at a loss for words, just like she was last night. She had turned the camcorder on yesterday, after what had happened with Moira, to try to tell the camcorder what she was thinking and feeling but decided to just turn it off without explaining anything and went straight to bed. There were just too many thoughts to get through them all and still get a decent amount of sleep last night, so Angela prioritized her rest, but sleep seemed to escape her grasp for most of the night as her mind kept jumping between Moira, Team Talon, her responsibilities, and her own emotions. Now, sitting in front of her camcorder once again, she felt her mind was still a flood of thoughts, yet they were even more scrambled now due to lack of sleep. Finally, she forced her eyes open wide, making herself get out of her sleep-like state so this wouldn’t be an awkward, silent, recording again.

“I know you have questions, well, I mean, I know you’re wondering what that last recording was, right? Where I just said, ‘uh oh’, stood there for a few minutes and shut the recording off without explaining anything… wow, describing it now, out loud, just made me realize how awkward it’ll be when you all view it… uh, my bad.” She chuckled as she pulled her legs up with her in the chair, resting her chin on her knees as she blew a loose strand of hair out of her face.

“Let’s just say… Moira is giving me trouble. But I can still deal with her myself, so don’t fret. She tried to escape last night, the moron knew she wasn’t ready to leave, yet she tried anyway and pulled some stitches out. Sometimes it’s hard to remember she was a scientist… although we do tend to put our health second to our work—I should know since I did that a lot when I worked at Overwatch. Do you remember coming in to see me asleep in my lab with papers everywhere? Winston, you at one point ordered me to go home every night at midnight or else I’d get in trouble! And I would constantly argue with you about that restriction, man those were the days! Oh, I’m getting off track, aren't I? Anyway, Moira tried to escape last night, hm, I wonder if I should try to find some way to block or lock the front door and… jeez, I’m talking like she’s my prisoner! Just to clarify, she-um, she isn’t my prisoner, even if she’s part of Talon, she’s my patient and deserves some respect… SOME.” Angela sighed before continuing, “It’s hard to respect her when she constantly tries to egg me on like she used to do when I was back on Overwatch. It’s like a game to her, I swear she enjoys tormenting me… Well, I’ve been trying not to let her get to me. After she hurt herself, I cleaned her up, and got her some new clothing and um… well, when she was getting dressed I… she… just some… stuff was said! Nothing important, but… she just, you know, caught me off guard with her… underclothing, or lack thereof. It’s fine, it’s just… not… how… I imagined it to be… or, I mean, how it came about was surprising to me and not how I thought I’d first see h-er-uh-no, no, uh, just, heh, I mean…” She stammered when she realized she divulged more information about what had happened last night and a bit too much about herself that she hadn’t planned to share—her ex-coworkers didn’t need to hear any of this! She reached for the camcorder and tried to delete what she had just recorded, but to no avail. After a few frustrating minutes of her pressing every button she could along with grumbling and whispers of curses, she placed the camcorder on her knees, holding it there steadily. She smiled awkwardly at the lens, “So… forget what I just said because I really have no idea how to delete a recording; I barely know where the 'off' button is on this thing... What I said ultimately meant nothing, in the long run! The only thing that matters is I, uh, I got her to tell me some information, well at least one piece of information, um, actually, it’s more of a promise that she’ll tell me something important today when she wakes up… yeah, I should’ve just asked her yesterday, who knows if she’s going to honor her promise.”

Angela shook her head after realizing how jumbled she and her life seemed from these recordings, and she let out a laugh at how crazy everything was right now for her, “I bet I seem a bit of a mess, huh? It’s just been a while since I’ve truly interacted with someone else—let alone someone from my past!” Angela paused, her smile turning into a frown as she let out a small sigh and averted her gaze from the lens, “If she does keep her promise, I have to decide what’s most important to learn from her…” Her lips trembled and her grasp tightened on the camcorder, “I wonder if she knows if you all are alive? That… It’s not much help to me in my current situation and it’s a little selfish, huh?” Angela turned her head away from the camcorder, letting go of it with one hand so that she could wipe away the tears forming in the corners of her eyes, “I just miss you guys, and I’m worried…” After a few seconds of silence, save for the occasional sniffing from her, she looked back at the recording, her expression neutral, and it was difficult to even tell that she was upset only a few moments ago.

“Today I will change her IV, clean her wound… hm, I can see if she wishes to take a bath… ah, I’ve finally chosen to make one of the upstairs rooms a room for bathing and cleaning clothes. I already used it for such things before, but I’m making it officially my washroom! Oh, sorry for getting off track, I’m just a bit excited about it. I’m pleased to be figuring out the layout of this place and making it better for myself and my patients. Back to Moira, I will also give her some food and make sure she eats it all, she needs the nutrients, her body shows signs that she hasn’t eaten in a while… I have some canned and dried foods, as well as bottled clean water and pain medicine, but I’m beginning to run low on all of them. It’s been a while since any of my runners have come by, and if I haven’t heard anything from them soon, I may need to do a supply run on my own. But, that’s something future me can worry about, today I need to worry about Moira... uhh, I mean, worry about making sure she’s improving health-wise. That’s about it; if anything else important comes up I’ll record again today, otherwise, see you tomorrow!” She gave the camcorder a small smile before turning it off.


	5. Gray

“Hold still!” Angela grumbled as she cleaned Moira’s stitched up wound. She had just finished recording for the day and now had to take care of her patient as well as tidy the clinic up, although, taking care of her patient was turning out to be more time-consuming than she thought it would be as Moira’s thin body bent away and fidgeted every time Angela pressed the damp washcloth against her bare skin.

“I am holding still.” Moira retorted as she laid on her back, her plaid shirt pulled up just enough to expose the wound. She lifted her head up slightly trying to see when Angela was going to press the washcloth against her.

“No, you’re not!” Once again, Angela went to gently brush the washcloth to the wound to clean any dirt and get rid of any crust that had formed and, once again, Moira sucked her stomach in and away from the cloth.

“Yes, I am!”

Angela stopped what she was doing and threw the damp cloth onto the ground, placed her hands on her hips, and glared at her patient, “Next time you get to clean and dry it yourself!”

“Really? That’s how you’re going to act? You’re just going to throw things around and order me to do my own caretaking?” Moira sneered as she sat up in her bed, her shirt falling down to cover her stomach, “Is there a way to leave a negative review about this clinic? Got any paper and tape so I can put it up on one of the walls here to warn future patients that you suck as a doctor?”

“I’m used to working with full-grown adults who don’t squirm every time I touch them! You’re infuriating and you constantly fight me tooth and nail whenever I’m trying to help you!” Angela scolded her as she picked the towel up off the floor.

“You call that squirming? Let’s switch places, you get on the bed, and I can show you some real squirming.” Moira chuckled, but that got cut short when Angela hurled the towel into the orange-haired woman’s face.

“Hah! You should stuff that towel in your mouth so I don’t have to hear you anymore while I work!”

Moira removed the washcloth from her face and muttered, “Are you joking? It’s so difficult to tell with you…”

“Trust me, I’m not,” Angela smirked as she moved to change Moira’s IV, deciding that what she managed to clean was going to have to be good enough for today. “Why are you like this? You used to do this when I was in Overwatch, too.”

“What are you on about now?” Moira asked as she slumped back against the bed’s headboard as she lazily watched Angela work.

“You just always poked fun at me, I mean, whenever my team and I ran into you and your team, you were relentless with your jokes and never picked on anyone else but me. I never understood it, and you still do it to this day. It’s very annoying, you know. Although, I doubt you care if you’re annoying or not...” Angela stated as she took the IV bag off the IV pole and went to one of the cabinets opposite of Moira’s bed to dispose of the old IV bag and get a new one to replace the old.

“That’s because, out of everyone, you always reacted so defensively! You always argued back and defended yourself, and it was c-ah, fun, funny, to me, I mean.” Moira stumbled over her words, and Angela turned back to look at her curiously as she had never really seen the geneticist stumble over her words like that, but Moira did not meet her gaze, instead, she looked at the IV pole. “Besides, you never seemed upset at Sombra poking fun at you.”

“Sombra made fun of everyone, you just targeted me!” Angela snapped, turning back to finish what she was doing.

“Well, alright you have me there, but I targeted you because you were the most relatable to me.”

Angela laughed after she said that, returning with a new IV bag for Moira. “What do you mean most relatable? What, we’re, uh, scientists, women, and from Europe, that’s where anything relatable ends. We have nothing else in common!”

Moira stared at her as she worked, eyes narrowed, “That’s not true in the slightest, we have much more in common than that, I can’t believe you’ve never noticed it or-“

“Like what? What on earth do we have in common? You’re part of Talon and I was part of Overwatch, besides our biology, there’s nothing else.” Angela stated as she hooked the new IV bag onto the IV pole.

“Is… that really how you see it? That’s such a black and white viewpoint, I would think you of all people would see the world a little… differently.” Moira shook her head slowly, looking down at her lap as she began picking at the blanket, “It’s more than that… I’m more than that…”

Angela scoffed, looking at her, “You’re more than Talon? Yeah, right. Talon is you. It’s like their namesake, Moira, they grip you with their talons and spread this darkness within you until you become corrupted, and, well, you were the perfect mark for them.” Moira stayed silent, not looking up, as Angela sat on the side of the bed and continued, “You’ve always been a questionable scientist, with procedures and results that nobody could reproduce. And you have a warped sense of reality when it comes to experimentation, even doing it on yourself when it could kill you, and Talon fueled that in you!” Angela felt her anger bubbling up, the words gushing out of her mouth with no end in sight, “You know what? Talon started this damn war and that means, since you’ve helped them and affected them, you have a part in starting this war, too! Don’t you understand that? Don’t you and other members of Talon feel bad about that? I mean…” Angela paused for a beat, watching Moira’s reaction. When she didn’t react, Angela continued, “I-I hate Talon for what they’ve done to me… to my family, to Overwatch, to the world… to… you… I just can’t help but wonder what would’ve come of you if you weren’t in a situation, I mean, a place, that fueled your negative quirks.”

“Why do you even care what I’d be like without Talon?” Moira mumbled.

“I honestly don’t know, just, you’re so smart. You could’ve done so much with that intelligence in Overwatch working with… me, uh… did you ever think about leaving Talon?”

Moira took a deep breath in and out, her gaze not leaving her lap, as she replied quietly, “Yes, I have… I’ve already left Talon, actually. I’m no longer affiliated with them.”

“W-what?”

Finally, she looked at Angela, a defeated look on her face as she pulled her legs up closer to her and crossed her arms around them, curling up, “Oh, no, don’t let me stop you. Go on, keep dogging me about how I helped cause this war and how Talon has caught me in their trap and spread their darkness in me, but oh, how wonderful and how good of a person I would have been if I had left and joined Overwatch!” Moira said in a sarcastic tone, and the more she spoke, the more frustrated she began to look.

“I didn’t know you-"

"Of course, I feel fucking bad Angela, I’m not heartless, even though Overwatch likes painting me as such! I know I’ve contributed to these people and omnics dying, I don’t need you ranting and lecturing to me about it! That’s why I left! I’m trying to… I’m trying to… goddamnit, I don’t know what I’m trying to do, but I know that I'm just finished with all of Talon's shit!”

Angela bowed her head as she bit her lips, an ashamed heat washing over her as she managed to look back up and meet Moira’s gaze, “I… I’m sorry, really and truly, I… don’t know what overcame me… I guess I let my hatred for Talon and what they’ve done just take over… God… I really said all of that, didn’t I? I’m so sorry…” Angela’s voice got quieter the longer she spoke, almost becoming a whisper. Her eyes were wide with both shock and sorrow, and she crossed her arms around her and rubbed her arms.

Moira watched her, the frustration she felt dying down and instead, she began feeling concerned for the ex-Overwatch member. She wanted to reach her hand out to comfort Angela, to say something kind, but instead just sighed, letting go of the tension in her body as she gently let her head fall back against the headboard, “Stop apologizing… it doesn’t matter. I know, at Overwatch, you’re drilled in the head about how awful members of Talon are, and I know the press and even my fellow scientists continued their propaganda about me and my own research for a long time after I joined Talon, and being part of Talon discredited anything I did, but they supported my research and paid me to continue it, something no one else was willing to offer me anymore. In the end, what was the point of even attempting ethical research when nobody would care anyhow since it’s from me… I know Talon fueled the bad in me, but they were the only ones who let me continue doing what I loved so...”

“… I guess no one would even bat an eye at any research you published. Talon appealed to you and let you do what you wanted at the price of helping them... I didn't think it through like that...” Angela was beating herself up inside about what she had just said. If only she could go back and shut herself up, or even tried to be a bit less hateful towards Talon and their members. She was supposed to not take sides, and here she was, taking sides, the whole Overwatch versus Talon conflict was still a part of her, but more than that, she really felt a disconnect between herself and her words, and it was terrifying to her.

“Hey, Angela…”

Moira's voice snapped Angela out of her own thoughts as she answered, “Yes, Moira?”

“Do you… hate me? Just because I was part of Talon? Do you think I can’t ever… as you put it, get rid of the Talon or darkness in me?” Moira looked away from Angela, her eyes trying to find something else to look at that wasn’t the doctor, and her whole body seemed to tense up after asking such a question.

Angela paused, mulling over the question. Did she hate Moira? No. The answer to that was easy, but why did she hate Talon, yet not hate Moira? Why was she asking? Why did she even care? Her one single question just led to many more. “Um… no.” Angela said softly, and she felt her pulse quicken for some reason, “I don’t hate you…”

“Are you sure you don’t hate me now because I’m just not part of Talon anymore?” Moira pointed out, still not looking at Angela.

“It does sound like that, doesn’t it? I said some stuff without even thinking, just, feeling and hating this war and being away from the people I know and care about…” Angela exhaled, feeling upset with herself once again. “Moira, look at me, please…” Moira finally turned her head back to her, one red eye and one blue staring straight into Angela’s own blue eyes, “I’ll be honest with you, I don’t like some of your practices and sometimes, you can be…”

“A bitch,” Moira stated flatly.

“Well, I was going to say something more polite but… yes. You’re not a bad person, though. You’ve done bad things and were with bad people, sure, but I don’t believe that makes you… bad. I believe that some people can change, and just leaving Talon was a huge step towards that change, and I don’t… hate you, I never did, even in Overwatch! I always believed you were just misled and, well, I liked it when I got to see you while out on the field, even if it wasn’t ever on good terms and even if you constantly made jokes at my expense. Remember fighting each other and bickering the whole time about scientific discoveries and research? It was some of my most fun times spent in the field!”

“Really?” Moira asked, no longer was her mouth formed into a frown and she looked rather pleased with what Angela said.

“Of course! Even now, with you mocking me and us arguing, it’s just like old times and helps cheer me up and forget everything that’s been happening in the world, it’s just… kind of fun with you here, honestly.” Angela said, pushing Moira playfully in the shoulder, but she quickly pulled her hand back and stared at her wide-eyed as she felt a sense of warmness and happiness shoot through her body. She realized, as she was trying to understand the reaction she had, that that was the first time she had touched Moira in a friendly way and not because she needed to perform a medical procedure on her… she wanted to do it again, to do it more, to feel her, “Uh—I—uh…” She stammered.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, just thinking… I’ve been enjoying talking to you today. It’s nice having someone to talk to that knows of my past and shares some of it.”

“…I’ve enjoyed this conversation, too, Angela…” Moira said, and for the first time since she had arrived, a genuine, small, smile crossed her lips, and Angela smiled back, but all she really wanted to do was reach out and touch Moira again, maybe pat her shoulder, or hug her, or something just see if she could get that blissful feeling once again… however, she wasn’t about to do that. Not right now, when Moira was finally cheering up. While thinking about hugging her, an idea popped in Angela’s head, and she began to giggle. “What’s so funny?” Moira questioned.

“Are we… becoming friends?” Angela snickered.

“God, I hope not, friends are so much work, enemies are way easier to deal with…” Moira remarked, and both women began to laugh softly.

“So um, are you still angry at me? For what I said before? Can you forgive me? I really am sorry, Moira..." Angela softly said, her voice quiet, scared of the answer.

“Hm, I’m not mad at you. Honestly, I don’t stay mad long—it causes wrinkles, you know.” She chuckled before continuing, “And I know Talon, Overwatch, and this war has affected you and has been hard on you, it's been hard on me, too. Just, try to keep an open mind, not all of Talon is pure evil, as you said, many of us are just misled.” Moira still had a soft smile on her face as she closed her eyes, “I’ll forgive you if you do one thing for me…”

“What’s that?”

“Get me some food, I’m so hungry. If you do that, I’ll forgive you, and adjust my rating of your clinic accordingly, to two stars, which is better than one.” She opened her eyes back up and winked at Angela.

Angela stood up, bowing to Moira, “Alright Ms. Patient, I shall give you your luxurious food for your forgiveness and a higher rating of my apparently shabby clinic!”

Moira rolled her eyes when Angela bowed to her, chuckling softly, and watched as she began to walk to a large cabinet in the corner of the room, “Have you eaten today?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, um, how about we eat together?” Moira asked.

Angela paused as that wasn’t something she was expecting to hear from Moira today, but she smiled back at her, “That sounds like an excellent idea.” She opened the cabinet and grimaced at the supply of food she had, and she came back to the bed with packages of dried fruit, dried meat, and some water bottles. She handed a couple of packets of the food to Moira and kept the other packets for herself as she sat back on the corner of the bed.

“This… is food?” Moira asked, turning the package around to look at it from every direction, a grimace on her face.

“Yep, dried food is all I have right now, sorry…” Angela said as she opened her own package and began eating the dried fruit.

Moira sighed, “I guess if I have to pick between eating and starving, well, bon appétit.” She began to slowly open the package, “I do miss Talon’s food stocks…”

After some time had passed and both were finishing up their food, Angela asked, “For the free question I get, that you promised me you’d keep, can you go into detail of why you left Talon? I just… want to know more.”

Moira, who was chewing on the last piece of dried meat, said, “Yeah, that’s easy enough. They’re taking this too far, this war. While I know Talon isn’t perfect, they’ve helped me out countless times, and I… favor some of their ideologies still, but even at the start I didn’t support assassinating Mondatta, but I didn’t have much of a say. It was a move to get more power, at first, but nobody saw this war breaking out and lasting as long as it has and Talon is still trying to figure out how to profit from it, power-wise, money-wise, anyway they can, forcing most of us at Talon to halt our own work and focus on a way to make the higher-ups a buck from what they started or get them control. They cared little for ideas that included ending the war. I didn’t like what they were doing or trying to do any longer. So, I up and left—well,” Moira chuckled, “More like snuck out. Talon isn’t nice to people leaving, and I was… rather scared for my life. I went days without sleeping or eating, just to try to get further away from them and any assassins they might’ve sent after me, but one day, I got unlucky and ran into an omnic patrol…” Moira stopped as she took a bite of the piece of dried meat, chewed it, and swallowed it. Angela stayed quiet but felt like she was sitting on the edge of her seat waiting for her to continue, intrigued by what happened next. Finally, Moira continued the story, “I tried to run but I didn't have the energy to do so, and I felt a shot, a, just, hot fire feeling near my stomach, and I saw the omnics advancing on me as I fell to the ground, and that’s the last thing I remember. Next thing I know I’m lying outside of this clinic, and you opened the door and dragged me in here and… then I passed out again and… now we’re here…”

“Who brought you to the clinic?” Angela inquired.

“I didn’t see them… it must’ve been a trek though; I wasn’t even in King’s Row…”

“Well, I’m glad whoever they were brought you here, to me!” Angela said, happily, as she popped another piece of dried fruit in her mouth, a smile on her face.

“Me too.”


	6. Listen In

“They still haven’t come…” Angela murmured as she pressed a water bottle to her lips, holding it there for a second before taking a small sip. When she finished drinking, she tapped her nail on the bottle. “I’m running out of supplies for the two of us… water is getting scarce and I’ve had to limit my own consumption. The only time I’ve been this low on supplies was when I first started the clinic after I quit Overwatch, and I didn’t have any connections. Now, well, I guess I got too comfortable with the runners constantly bringing me supplies and thought they’d come soon, eventually, just had to wait and be patient, but now I’m forced to head out to get supplies for us.” She sat the bottle on her desk and stood, running a hand through her messy hair, “I mean, I’m not too worried, it’s just been a while since I’ve had to do this…” She said as she made her way to her bed, kneeling to dig around underneath it, “I might be a bit rusty, especially since it’s never been dangerous enough to use this but…” She pulled a small pistol out from underneath her bed, showing the camcorder, “Remember this? I kept my Caduceus Blaster. I haven’t even needed to shoot it yet; it still has all twenty bullets in it, plus a few more rounds that I’ve kept with me this whole time.” She also pulled out a medium-sized brown leather tactical bag from under her bed before standing to go place the bag and pistol on her desk. She then picked up the camcorder and held it in front of her face and gave it a smile, “I’ll pack what I’ll need in the bag tonight, inform Moira of my plans, and then head out tomorrow morning. I’ll record again when I get back, hopefully, the trip will be a success!” She waved at the camera before turning it off and sat it back on the desk and then picked her bag back up to go get some items downstairs to pack for tomorrow. When she went to open the door, she heard a scuffling sound and yanked the door open to catch Moira midway down the stairs.

“Hey! What are you doing!?” Angela’s voice snapped loudly as the woman turned around sheepishly as Angela’s questions continued to bombard the Irish woman, “Why are you out of your bed!? Why are you outside my door?”

“Um, I got lost?” She smiled at Angela, but the smile disappeared quickly when Angela’s expression of narrowed eyes and a frown didn’t leave her face.

“You’re a pretty bad liar.” The doctor scoffed in response.

Moira sighed dramatically and shrugged, making large gestures with her arms, “Why is this important? Why do you care? Oh, wait, did I scare you?” A sly smirk slipped onto her face as she continued, “Is that it? Did you think I was an intruder? Were you scared?” Moira winked her red-eye at Angela, “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from any intruders.”

Angela crossed her arms, sneering at Moira, “Hah hah, sorry to disappoint, but I don’t need your protection…” She went to her desk, grabbed the pistol, and showed it to Moira, “I have this!” She said proudly, looking at her pistol with a gleam in her eye.

“Yes, yes, your Cad-whatever pistol. I know, I heard.” Moira retorted in a sarcastic tone of voice.

“You heard? Wait so you were—hey! I didn’t say you could come into my room!” Angela protested as Moira came in, but she ignored the blonde’s complaints and instead sat on the single chair in the room. Angela sighed at the other’s noncompliance as she faced towards her, leaning her lower back against the desk.

“Sorry? Did you want me to knock after I finished eavesdropping or during?” Moira said, but before Angela could reply, she reached over to the desk and quickly took Angela’s camcorder, looking at it curiously, “Is this what you were talking to? Even though you have a human being downstairs that you could speak to…”

Angela felt the hair on her arms stand on-end and her heartbeat quicken when Moira began messing with her camcorder, turning it around in her hands, and Angela became painfully aware of the other’s long fingernails which were gliding across the sides, except when they weren’t, then they were scraping across the sides and she clenched her teeth when she thought she saw the nails scratch her otherwise pristine camcorder. “Stop! Give me that!” She managed to snatch the camcorder away from Moira’s thin fingers.

“Alright, alright, Miss Defensive! All you needed to do was ask, jeez!” Moira threw her hands up as Angela glared at her, “So, what, you speak to that instead of your patients?”

Angela held the camcorder close to her chest, feeling her breath calm down now that she had it back in her possession, “Uh…” She muttered as she went to sit on her bed, “I… try not to get close to my patients…”

“Should be easy for you, you never get any patients anyway! I would’ve thought in this war that you’d have more than just me here!” Moira turned around in the chair, straddling it as she rested her chin against the chair’s back.

“Weren’t you going to ease up on the teasing?” Angela questioned as she sat the camcorder in her lap.

“I never said anything of the sort. Now, what were you talking about? Going for supplies in the mall? Come on, you said you were going to tell me your plans anyway before you left tomorrow.”

“Ugh, fine. See, I haven’t gotten anything in a while—not patients, not supplies, I don’t know what’s happened to my runners!” Angela exclaimed, closing her eyes as she rubbed her temples.

“Runners?” Moira tilted her head with interest, “What are those? You’ve said that a few times, but I don’t quite understand what they are.”

Angela looked back at her, “Runners are people who brave the outside to bring resources to those in need of them, those doing good, most of mine were past patients that I found and helped and… did you listen to my whole conversation!?” Angela snapped at her.

“Well, yes, at first I thought you had lost it… more then you’ve already had, I mean. Glad to see you were just speaking to a camcorder… you uh, weren’t expecting it to talk back, right? It isn’t… your friend who gives you advice, is it? Not going to draw eyes on it and give it a human name, right?” Between her words she tried to stifle snickers of laughter but was failing to do so, and this was making Angela more annoyed as her mouth curled into a scowl once more.

“No! I’m not losing it! I’m recording because, well,” She sighed, “just, in case people find it and want to know… what I was doing, what happened here, or what happened to me, like, you know, Overwatch…” Her stare fell to her lap at the mention of Overwatch.

Moira’s snickering ceased after hearing what Angela had to say on the matter. The two women sat in silence as Moira tried to think of how to reply as she gazed at the younger doctor who did not look up. When she saw her bottom lip tremble, Moira let out a soft sigh as she slowly reached her hand towards Angela, “I… uh… hm…” She retracted her hand and the two fell back into a silence that lasted for a minute or two before Moira broke it with her own question, trying to make sure she understood what Angela was referring to, “… What do you mean? Do you… think you’re going to die?” Her tone of voice was soft, and her words were quiet, almost as if she was afraid of asking such a question.

This got Angela’s attention, her eyes snapping back to Moira’s, “Well, it’s quite possible, isn’t it? People want Overwatch members dead because of what Talon—" She bit back her reply when she saw Moira physically flinch. She felt the anger bubbling up, but she wouldn’t let it consume her again like it did yesterday, for her sake, and for Moira’s. Thus, she stopped talking and, instead, took a deep breath before continuing in a softer tone, “It’s just, my runners are mysteriously gone, and I have to go out there to get supplies. I’m not… worried, per se, but it’s been a while, and every time I leave this clinic the more I put myself in danger of being found by people who want me dead.”

“Well, that settles it, I’ll be going with you to gather supplies.”

“Oh no!” Angela stood up from the bed quickly, making sure her camcorder was safely placed on the bed before she began to pace around her small room, shaking her head disapprovingly as she spoke, “No, no, no, absolutely not! You are injured! Hell, you shouldn’t have even walked up those stairs! And where is your IV!?”

“We both know that IV just had fluids in it, nothing important!” Moira exclaimed, watching the other pace.

“Fluids are important you—ah!” Angela felt like pulling her hair out at the lack of medical concern Moira had for herself. She stopped pacing, turning towards the woman as she leaned against the wall behind her, her hands on her hips and her foot tapping quickly against the ground. “The answer is no!”

“Come on, Angela,” Moira turned back around in the chair and stood quickly, gesturing to her body, “I’m fine! Better than fine, even! And if this trip is dangerous then it’ll be better in numbers! Remember, I said I’ll protect you!”

Angela frowned, “It isn’t that dangerous, really, there aren’t any omnics in the mall, just people, scavengers. They usually don’t bother you if you don’t bother them, only rarely have I had to run away from some…”

“Run away? You have a pistol—”

“You know I’d prefer never having to use my pistol, and so far, I haven’t had to…”

“Perfect! I might not even need to run, just some sneaking around and avoiding people—something I’m a master at, I might add—sounds like a great first mission to test how well I’ve healed!”

“But you might slow me down!”

“It would be good to have someone to talk to while you’re out there! An actual person that can speak back—"

“Shut it! You might hurt yourself more!”

“I can help you carry more supplies back!”

“But, no, um… you don’t have a weapon!”

“Well, all you have is your pistol! Where’s your staff? Your wings?” Moira glanced around the room, looking for the ex-Overwatch member’s main gear that she used to use on her missions with Overwatch.

“They’re not here. I left them when I left Overwatch… they… it was better for me that they stayed there, I thought. Besides, I didn’t have the supplies for the upkeep on them.”

“Yeah, I know how you feel, I should’ve taken a few repair components when I left Talon for my own gear… but I do have a trick up my sleeve…” Angela cocked an eyebrow as Moira smirked, and, in a blink of an eye, she disappeared and reappeared very close to Angela’s right side, leaning against the same wall she did, eyebrows raised, that same smirk on her face as she waited for Angela’s reaction.

“Whoa!” Angela gasped, both at what the other just did and her sudden proximity which caused Angela to take a few steps away from Moira, “You still have fade? I don’t understand…”

“It isn’t tied to my suit; it’s tied to my DNA. While my hands need a source to help them output healing and deal damage and the tank helps convert that damage into healing, fade is just a part of who I am because… because… well, you know why, because of self-testing and changing my own genetics... It can be used for movement purposes, like stealth, and makes it easy to get away, and do I have to spell out how amazing it is, especially for this trip?” Moira waited for a joyful reaction from Angela, one that ended in her allowing Moira to go on the supply run, but she didn’t get the reaction she expected, instead, she was met with a puzzled look. “What’s… what’s wrong?”

“Why didn’t you fade when I opened the door while you were eavesdropping?”

“Um… I used it beforehand to get up the stairs quietly—”

“You wanted me to catch you, didn’t you!?”

“No!”

“Yes! You listened in on my conver—er, recording, and you wanted to see if you could convince me to let you go on this supply run! Admit it!” Angela leaned toward Moira, a large grin on her face, “I figured you out!” She said in a sing-song voice, causing Moira to roll her eyes.

“Fine! You’re right, I wanted you to catch me so we could discuss the plans in more detail, and I could convince you to let me come, and my plan has worked perfectly, hasn’t it? Aren’t you about to let me come with you or must I impress you some more?”

“Well…” Angela sighed.

“What? Whatever argument you have, I can find a positive for—a positive that outweighs any of your possible negatives! Try me, what’s stopping you now?”

“… I… I’ll worry about you if you go. I won’t have all my medical supplies to take care of you if something does happen.”

Moira was taken aback from that comment, her mouth left slightly agape as she wasn’t ready to hear Angela would be worried about her. “Um…” She stammered, and Angela giggled, which made Moira’s cheeks light up with a hint of a blush, something she didn’t want the other to see, thus she turned her head away from her, “That’s not fair…”

“Wasn’t expecting that, were you?” Angela said, giving Moira a triumphant smile.

Moira laughed gently, “No, I wasn’t, but… if I’m with you there should be less to worry about, right? You can see me, check on me, and talk with me, instead of leaving me here by myself…” Moira paused as she watched Angela walk towards the bedroom door.

“C’mon, stop trying to sell yourself even more to me, I know how stubborn you are and I know I'm not going to win this argument. You can come, I'll just bring extra medical supplies in case anything happens to your stitches... let’s go get you a bag downstairs and start preparing for tomorrow together…”

Moira stayed still for a few moments as Angela made her way down the stairs, and once she was out of earshot Moira finished what she had planned to say, whispering softly to no one but herself, “Besides, if I’m with you then I won’t be stuck here worrying about you and missing you… now, if only I could tell you that to your face…” She mumbled to herself before heading downstairs to help Angela prepare for their supply run tomorrow.


	7. Supply Run

The sleep the night before any supply run was always shaky for Angela, who kept waking up nearly every hour or so drenched in sweat and worrying about what the day would bring. She was always afraid, not just of the idea that she might have to use her pistol, that she might have to shoot someone, but also it had been so long since the last time she stepped outside her clinic and each time the outside looked worse and worse, showing no signs of improving; seeing how the world continued to spiral down deeper into a point of no return caused her agony as she wanted nothing but for the future to be better, but it was looking bleaker with each passing day. Furthermore, she fretted over Moira. She still went back-and-forth between whether bringing her was an awful idea or not, but she knew Moira wouldn’t accept the answer no and would follow her out there regardless of her own wishes, so it was ultimately better for both to go together, right? At least, that was her justification. She went between falling asleep and being awake, almost as if they were fighting over her. As time crept on, sleep began beckoning her back into its realm, and as her heavy eyelids closed, she wondered how Moira was sleeping tonight…

Moira was also suffering from not being able to stay asleep, but for the opposite reason—she was excited for the next day, for the supply run, and her excitement was keeping her awake. She missed the missions that she went on with Talon back in the day, even if she didn’t miss Talon as a whole, most of their missions were exciting. While pulling the strings behind the operation was always fun, she ultimately enjoyed being on the field more, experiencing what they experienced. Even though she never was as strong as they were, she always made sure to make herself useful; she had proved to Talon that she was worthwhile to bring along and now it was time to prove the same thing to Angela. She wanted to show Angela that she could help her, that she wasn’t just another patient that Angela had to care for. To show Angela that she was helpful, to show her that she was worth having around, and could, and would, do good was her goal for the day… and maybe, just maybe, if everything went well, she was planning on telling Angela that she enjoyed her company, liked her more than she let on, that her teasing was more than that, it was a way, her way, of flirting. She was both excited and nervous about how the other woman might respond, and those thoughts rushed through her head, keeping her up half the night and infiltrating her dreams while she slept. 

The next morning the two women greeted each other, both a little groggy, but their adrenaline pushing that tiredness away. Both were dressed in their normal attire—Angela had her lab coat on over her scrubs, and Moira had the clothing that Angela had given to her; besides their outfits, Angela also had one tactical bag slung around her hips and tied around her left thigh and on her right thigh was a holster for her pistol, both hidden under her lab coat. Lastly, she had a satchel of medical supplies strapped across her shoulder. Moira had two tactical bags on either side of her hips and a small backpack—all empty, ready for the supplies that they would hopefully collect. Angela took her pistol out of the holster, waiting on Moira, who was trying to convince her not to bring it.

“You said it isn’t dangerous out there, the pistol could be replaced with a bag for more items.” Moira stated as she ate her ‘breakfast’, a piece of jerky before they left. Angela had opted to not eat.

“It’s just in case, Moira, I doubt I'll need it, but I’d rather bring back fewer supplies than drag back a body…” She responded while double-checking her bags and the surrounding cupboards, making sure she had gotten everything that the two may need on the journey; although they didn’t plan to be out long, just grab all the supplies they could find and head back to the clinic before the day ended.

“You can be so grim sometimes. I never knew that about you, or did you only start being grim when you left Overwatch?” Moira asked between bites. 

Angela sighed, turning towards Moira as she checked the pistol’s ammunition for the umpteenth time in a row, “Admittedly, I’ve become grimmer since all of this happened, but you never saw me before an Overwatch mission…”

“Oh? What were you like?” 

Angela felt a little embarrassed as she turned her attention to checking her medical supplies again, avoiding eye contact as she replied, “I uh, was a little bossy, at times, when we needed it.”

“You? Bossy? Oh, I would’ve never imagined!” Moira said with sarcasm dripping in her voice as she gave Angela a large grin.

Angela pursed her lips as she turned away from Moira and began heading to the front of the clinic, sliding the door open, “Alright, I’m leaving now...”

“Wait! I didn’t mean it! Wait for me!” Moira called out, stuffing the rest of the jerky in her mouth before rushing behind Angela and stepping outside into the mall as Angela shut the clinic up behind her.

Moira looked around the area that Angela lived in. The clinic was somewhat close to the front entrance of the mall, but still far enough away from the warring that King’s Row hosted constantly. The mall was three-stories, although fallen debris had blocked some of the nearby staircases and escalators, and Moira wondered if there was an easy way upstairs or not. Dried remnants of the past were smeared on the walls and floor: blood, dirt, oil, marks of gunfire, all a reminder that the world wasn’t the same any longer. Anti-omnic graffiti was sprayed on the walls, things along the lines of ‘blood not circuits’, ‘bots should burn’, ‘no bots allowed’, etc. There were also people’s names written in graffiti on the walls and they were accompanied either by more graffiti of hearts, crosses, or flowers; there really weren’t any blank walls around, all of it was covered. There were holes in the ceiling that let in sunlight, which highlighted the dust and dirt participles that floated through the air and Moira couldn’t help but let out a cough, even though she tried to stop herself. This caused Angela to hold up a single finger to her lips as the doctor scanned the area for anyone or anything that was around; but no, they seemed to be alone. 

“God… it’s practically falling apart…” Moira muttered once Angela put her finger down, having not detected any movement.

“Yeah,” Angela replied softly, “each time I come out here it’s worse and worse…” With the pistol in hand, she motioned at Moira as she snuck towards the side of the nearest wall where shop entrances used to be. Angela stayed low to the ground as she moved, and Moira copied her movements exact, still glancing around the mall, eyes scanning for any movement. As Angela went forward, deeper into the mall, she clung to the sides of the mall’s walls and shadows. When they had to pass a shop entrance, Angela would glance in, gun readied, but so far, nothing. Moira managed to peek inside one of the shops as she passed by; the metallic gate that they used to use to close the shop up was busted down on the floor. Some shelves were thrown on the ground and the few still standing were completely bare. The floor tiles were covered in trash, from plastic bottles to torn, dirty shopping bags.

“Keep moving, we need to go further in…” Angela said softly, noticing that Moira had paused to investigate a storefront. “How are you feeling? The wound hurting any?”

“I’m feeling alright for now. This place… are you sure there are things to collect here still?” Moira questioned, trying to stay low to the ground as they continued onward, although it was difficult to stay as low as Angela was due to her taller height.

“Yes, the Runners who go gather supplies for multiple people avoid collecting from here—they gather their items outside, in hostile areas where there are too many dangers to scavenge there for the normal person, and they bring back items to those who have requested them. They don’t gather from here because they know I, and others, survive in here; therefore, they leave the items in the mall for us if we ever need supplies right away.” They passed by some benches which had newspaper lying on them and a few had some torn, dark yellow pillows, but still, nobody was about.

“Is it normally this quiet? There’s no one here…” Moira asked in a whisper.

“Yeah… sort of, I mean, I usually see one or two other people, but, uh, there’s really no one…” Angela replied. Since there wasn’t anyone around currently, she decided to holster her pistol so she could move a little quicker.

Moira watched as she holstered her pistol, “Well, just because we don’t see anyone doesn’t mean anything. Let’s keep our guard up and keep moving until we get to where we need to go.”

“Less humorous today, aren’t we?”

Moira shrugged, even though Angela couldn’t see it; she wanted to keep her mind on the objective, to be quiet, to help today and not distract. “I just… want to make sure nothing happens. I’m used to orchestrating dangerous missions, and I know what can go wrong—”

Angela glanced over her shoulder, “And I’m used to being on the field during dangerous missions, plus I’ve done this before, don’t think you know more than I do.”

Moira grimaced, glancing away from Angela’s eyes, “I don’t… I didn’t mean it like that… uh, just… I’ll watch your backside; you watch my front.” 

“You’ll watch my what now?”

She was caught off guard with this question, as she finally realized what she had said to Angela and stumbled over her response, “You’re… uh, behind you, I mean, not—”

Angela turned towards her, gently pushing her shoulder while letting out a soft giggle, “I’m just messing with you. Ease up, alright? It’s a simple supply run.”

At her playfulness, Moira relaxed her shoulders down, not realizing how tense she was, “I know… I just have to be aware, to protect you, like I said I would.” 

“Of course.” Angela smiled, and her smile made Moira feel even more at ease as the two continued through the mall.

They finally reached what looked like an abandoned food court. The skylights in the area were all broken-in and glass was all over the ground. Plastic chairs were knocked over and most of the plastic tables were stacked up on their sides like a barricade of sorts. There was a large fountain in the center that was completely empty except for the trash that it had collected; however, Angela’s attention was turned to what was on the left and right sides of the wall—places that used to serve food, food stalls that had all kinds of food and drink behind their counters. “This is the best place to look for food here—well, I haven’t checked the third floor yet, but I haven’t needed to. Very few people travel into this mall, fewer go all the way to the back to look for food, and hardly anyone takes all the food, most people understand there are others needing to survive and leave some for us.”

“It isn’t all spoiled?” Moira asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“The bagged stuff isn’t, not usually, at least. The dried stuff is good, too, there’s a lot of jerky in the smaller shops near here, but the bottled water is usually the most abundant and always good.” Angela stood and jumped over the counter into the first food stall on the right of the room. Moira followed her, sliding over the counter and landing on her feet. Angela had her hand on the holstered pistol as she surveyed their surroundings, but as soon as she decided it was all clear she began opening every cabinet, every fridge, every cooler around and began throwing water and some packaged foods into her bags.

Moira opened a few as well, finding a couple of packaged dried meats as well as a bottle of water. She licked her lips when she picked up a bottle of water, realizing her mouth was incredibly dry after the jerky she had eaten. “Angela, can I drink one of these now?”

“Sure, go ahead…” She answered back and Moira leaned against the counter, taking the water bottle and began sipping on it, watching the other work.

“Just imagine…” Angela said, voice soft, as she kept searching, “One day when this ends.”

“That’ll be nice…” Moira murmured against the rim of the water bottle.

“I just… I want chocolate again.” Angela said as she looked at some packaged food in her hand and her nose crinkled at the sight of it, “I swear when this war ends, I’ll buy all the chocolate in the world… Swiss chocolate, that is.”

“You… miss chocolate the most out of everything?” Moira questioned curiously.

Angela shook her head no, placing the packaged food into her side bag, “Not just chocolate, but wine and music, and coffee! I drank so much coffee when I worked at Overwatch—I know, I know, it isn’t good for you to stay up all night with the help of it, but sometimes I needed it.” Angela glanced at her, wagging a finger in her direction, “No telling the doctor what she did was unhealthy!” 

Moira couldn’t help but smile in return, those wants were rather adorable to hear, and they gave Moira an idea, a way to try to get her feelings across. “That’s… um, I enjoy coffee as well, you know?”

“Do you?” Angela questioned as she turned back to the cabinets, “I didn’t know that.”

Moira placed the water bottle beside her and looked down at her shoes, tapping the ground repeatedly with her right one as she spoke, stuttering out a few words, “Maybe… um… if life ever goes back to normal, I mean, when it does, we could g-go get… coffee… together…”

Angela didn’t even turn towards her, “At a public coffee shop? Ah, the tabloids would go crazy—an Overwatch and ex-Talon member getting coffee together!” 

Moira let out a frustrated sigh as she tapped her foot quicker against the ground. Clearly Angela wasn’t getting the message, “I think you mean ex-Overwatch member, we’re not tied to our organizations anymore, so… you know, it shouldn’t matter, should it? What we do together?”

Angela paused her search, closing the cabinet she had opened and walked over towards Moira, leaning against the counter with her, “I think, if um, Overwatch will have me back, I’d… rejoin them, I’ve had a lot of time to think about it and I miss them, I miss helping such a large amount of people, and I’d make sure that we’re always doing the right thing. I’ll be the boss… if I have to… as you said, I’m good at being bossy, right?” Angela chuckled, smiling wistfully at the thought of seeing her old friends once again.

Agitation rose in Moira at Angela’s lack of understanding of what she was trying to lead to. She slammed her foot down with a clap, startling Angela, and replied sharply and cynically to her, “The right thing to you isn’t always the right thing to others.”

She glanced at her curiously, wondering why the tone in her voice and attitude had changed so suddenly as she tried to explain herself, “I know that but I think I should stand up for my ideals, they’re not that bad, I think, or give my advice a little more than I did in the past, at least. What about you?”

“I’m never going back to Talon,” Moira said sternly as she crossed her arms over her, glancing away from Angela.

“Sorry, that’s not what I meant, um, I mean, maybe you could, I don’t know, join Overwatch with me?”

“Join Overwatch? Like they’d want me!” Moira laughed, rolling her eyes at Angela’s inane idea.

"I’d want you.” Angela soothingly said.

“O-oh…” Moira muttered, feeling the heat rise to her face as she glanced back Angela’s way, “I… I think they’d rather lock me up forever than let me join…”

“Well, if I was the boss…” Angela said, standing up and getting in front of Moira, taking her hands in hers, one was smooth, the other felt rough of calluses, both caused Angela to feel a flicker of comfort, of warmth, of joy, “I’d let you join!” She responded with a cheerful, upbeat tone. 

Moira looked at the woman in front of her; she hadn’t seen Angela’s eyes as bright as they were until now, her smile was soft, genuine, happy, thoughts of the future rushing through her head. Moira was thinking of the future, too, and wanted to say what she felt, wanted to tell Angela what she wanted to tell her yesterday in her room, but, she decided that here wasn’t the best place, so instead, she said, “We should really get back to the mission...”

Angela paused, her smile fading, and she let go of Moira’s hands, her arms falling to her side, “R-right… um, what if we split up? There are six stalls, we could get through them quicker if you go search the ones on the other side of the room and I continue searching here.”

Moira gave a false smile—the last thing she wanted to do was split up, but she couldn’t deny that Angela’s advice was sound, “I… don’t have a gun…”

“If there’s anyone over there, fade away and call to me, I’ll help you,” Angela said as she went back to the cabinets, jumping to try to see in the top ones. Moira watched her for a few, longing seconds, and sighed, leaving the stall, cursing herself out mentally for not saying anything when she had a decent enough opportunity to. She wanted the scene to be more, well, romantic, but what place would be romantic enough? Where? When? Maybe, she thought to herself, maybe after the supply run would be a good time when they returned with bags full of items, they’d collapse together in a bed, staring up at the ceiling, and then she’d confess and Angela would confess as well and… well, they’d already be in bed together… those thoughts made Moira anxious to get back to the clinic, and she rushed through her search for food and was already onto the second stall.

When Angela finished looking through the first food stall she went to the counter and saw Moira already jumping over into the second stall on the opposite side of the room. Angela smiled at how hard of a worker Moira was as she herself went to her second food stall, preparing to scrounge it for morsels of leftovers, but something caught her attention as soon as she hopped over the counter. There, on the ground, was a bloody backpack, and nearby was a body of a man lying on his stomach in a pool of blood. Their flesh wasn’t rotten, the blood looked fresh, and there wasn't any odor, which made Angela think that this person might still be alive. She dropped to her knees right in front of him, placing her fingers on the side of his neck, checking for a pulse, which she found, albeit faint. Quickly, she scrounged through her satchel for medical supplies, bandages, antiseptic cream, painkillers, but she paused when the man coughed.

“Shit, it’s alright, I’m here…” She stopped her search and, as gently as she could, flipped him onto his back, afraid that if he threw up any bile or blood that he wouldn’t be able to breathe; however, as soon as he was flipped onto his back Angela let out a shrill scream, her eyes running from his face to his stomach, horror etched on her expression. The man, with the last of his might, pulled her down by her lab coat, covering her mouth with his bloodied hand, smearing his blood on her face. Her eyes were wide, staring straight, unblinking, at his midsection, which had a gaping hole in it, to the point where she could see clear inside him, but perhaps what was worse was that she knew the man. He was a Runner that had helped her out before by bringing her supplies a few times. The feeling of fear, disgust, her own bile that was rising, all dropped to her stomach when she realized that she didn’t have the medical equipment to fix him. Besides, it seemed, it was too late, as his hands slouched down from her mouth, his breath hitched before, finally, all went quiet. With a trembling hand, she checked his pulse once more, but there was none. She hunched over, turning away from him, and dry-heaved as there was nothing in her stomach to throw up. She dug her nails into the filthy ground, fighting back tears that were burning her eyes. She wanted to curl up, to cry, to scream; seeing someone that had helped die in front of her without her being able to help was the worst experience in the world, one that she experienced only a handful of times, and each time it wrecked her emotionally, physically.

“No… Angela, stop, now is not the time to lose yourself. There are more important things, people that still need aid, he’s… gone…” She swallowed hard, her arms wrapped around her as she rocked back-and-forth, “Don’t waste energy on mourning, use that energy to get supplies for the future, to save the future...” She whispered to herself as she began to calm down, thinking about the future, thinking about what mattered. She turned back towards him, and, slowly, with a rattling hand, she reached up to the man’s open eyes and closed them “Rest in peace, away from this hell…” She then picked up the backpack that lay near his body, glancing at the contents. It appeared he was trying to deliver these somewhere, but where was unknown, and now, they were hers. She threw the backpack on her and stood up at the counter to call out to Moira, as she wanted to head back to the clinic and postpone the supply run for a different day so she could rest, but, when her eyes rested on something moving, something in between the stalls, she ducked down quickly. “What is that doing here?” She whispered as an omnic, large in stature, dark silver in color, stood in the middle of the food court. Its face was completely scratched up, torn apart to the point where one could see the inner-workings, and the omnic was missing one arm while the other arm was shaped into a large gun of some sort. Angela could feel her breathing quicken as she peered over the counter. She looked to where she saw Moira disappear to, trying to find her, hoping that, maybe, she had used her fade to get closer to Angela; however, she couldn’t see her out in the food court anywhere. The omnic slowly began walking around, patrolling, seemingly looking for something. Angela gritted her teeth, trying to figure out the best course of action: She could run for it, but, no, there’s no way she’d outrun the omnic. Maybe it was friendly? She watched as the omnic ran into the fountain that sat in the middle of the food court, and, in response, yanked the gun arm in front of him and shot three, giant, gaping, perfectly circular holes into the base of the fountain. Angela ducked back down behind the counter and looked at the hole in the Runner, which matched the holes the omnic had just made in the fountain to a T. Well, guess that answered that question. She continued thinking to herself: the omnic didn’t seem to be able to see, so she could try to sneak away, back to the clinic, she’d have to be completely silent, omnics were intelligent, with senses that were better than humans… but what about Moira? Would she be able to find it, let alone get away? She was unarmed, unlike Angela. She decided that the best course of action for them would be for her to try to get to Moira, and then, together, try to sneak away. If the omnic found them while they were trying to escape, Angela could open fire while Moira either faded away or distracted it and then could fade away before she got hit. A single shot from her pistol wouldn’t be enough to bring something that large down, but if they could both distract and confuse it together, maybe she could get enough shots in to destroy it, but, well, hopefully, they wouldn’t need to do that. Angela glanced back over the counter, trying to plan how to sneak around the omnic without it hearing her. 

Gradually, as gently as she could, she pulled herself up on the counter and placed both feet on the opposite side as she slipped down to the ground, trying hard not to make a sound. The omnic was on the other side of the fountain, back turned towards her as she began to sneak slowly across the room. Her right hand stayed where her pistol was holstered and her left hand covered her mouth and nose, trying to stifle her own breathing the best she could. She made her way to the tables that were set up like a barricade, hiding behind them as the omnic turned around. Her hand fell from her mouth and nose to her chest, feeling her own racing heartbeat and she tried to slow it down by imagining herself elsewhere, in a field, or a coffee shop with Moira, but the omnic’s footsteps clacked against the mall’s tiles and kept her in reality. The footsteps grew louder, and she knew he was getting closer to her position. She curled up, trying to make herself as little as possible while bringing both hands up to her mouth and she held her breath. The omnic appeared beside her, standing still, close enough to Angela that she could see some of her reflection in his scarred metallic body. Her eyes were wide, fearful, and they flickered away from the omnic’s body, trying to find something else to look at, thinking about what would happen if he found her, how quickly she could pull her gun out and shoot before he shot her. Her lungs began begging for air, tightening inside her, but she clenched her jaw, her toes in her shoes curling up as she fought the urge to breathe. The omnic stayed for a few more moments before walking away from Angela, but it had felt like an eternity to her. Finally, once he was further away from her, she felt comfortable enough to drop her hands down and let her breath out slowly, making sure not to gasp for the oxygen she desperately needed; however, a new problem arose as the omnic headed towards the food stall that Moira had ducked into, the one Angela needed to get to. If he found her before Angela did, then she wouldn’t be able to shoot and kill it quickly enough before it harmed Moira. She needed to move him away from there, to get his attention, and she had an idea how. She shifted her weight to the tips of her toes, still crouched down, ready to bolt as soon as the omnic turned her way. She pushed one of the tables that made up the barricade down, moving away from it as soon as it began falling. The omnic turned, gun readied. Angela then timed her quickest movements with the shots that the omnic fired, the loud gunfire blocking out her own footsteps as she took the opportunity to speed up to reach Moira. When the third shot finished the omnic ran at an incredible speed towards the fallen table and Angela slowed her speed once more, sneaking until she made it to the counter. She climbed over it as the omnic continued to examine what it had shot, unaware that Angela had successfully snuck by it. Once behind the counter, she was met by Moira who was crouched down against the counter. Her left arm was wrapped around her knees which were brought up to her chest, while her other arm was on the floor, her long fingernails tapping against the ground.

“Moira, there’s an omnic—”

“I know…” Moira said in barely a whisper, her eyes wide as she looked past Angela, staring at nothing, “I… I can’t move…” She grabbed at her chest, “My heart is beating so fast, it’s so hot, damnit I think I’m dying, I can’t—”

“What? No, it’s ok, you’re ok, you’re not dying…” Angela muttered as Moira grabbed her hand and brought it to the side of her neck. Angela looked at Moira, concern in her eyes, “Your pulse is steady, just a little quick, but nothing unusual… um… when did this start?”

Moira finally glanced at Angela but physically flinched away from her quickly as she opened her mouth in a gasp, which Angela responded by covering her mouth with her hands to silence her. Moira reached up suddenly, her long nails brushing against the blood that was beginning to dry on Angela’s face, her eyes turning glossy. Angela just shook her head, “Not mine… I’m not injured.” She whispered as she took her hands away from Moira’s mouth. She let out a sigh of relief at Angela’s answer before speaking.

“When I… heard the scream, then the shots, then I saw him, out there… it reminded me of… when that patrol got me, I just remember the heat and pain… and I thought he got you, I thought you went through what I went through when I heard those shots, and I… couldn’t take it, I—” As she spoke, Angela noticed her breath quickening.

“It’s alright, I’m here, I’m fine, but…” Angela exhaled, “Honestly, we won’t be fine if we stay here any longer. I was… I had a plan, but… I don’t think you’re up for it… I mean, can you move? Fade? Anything? It sounds like you’re having a panic attack. I can’t make it go away, not with what I have, I’m sorry.”

“I can’t… I can’t get up, I can’t move, my legs don’t feel like they’re a part of me, I can’t even think straight… I don’t understand I…” She let out a sigh, resting her head against her knees, hiding her face away.

Angela glanced above the counter, the omnic had finished surveying the now-destroyed table and was once again walking towards the food stall that the two women hid behind. “I don’t know if we can get out of here now; he’s coming this way. Can you quiet your breathing?”

“Fuck,” Moira said, breathlessly, raising her head up as she tried to quiet her breathing, but it was sporadic at best. Even when she covered her mouth and nose, it still was loud enough that Angela could hear it, and there was no way the omnic wasn’t about to hear her breaths. Moira swallowed hard as she allowed her knees to fall to the ground when she rested her eyes back on Angela, the stress from her face, the creases, washing away as she smiled and chuckled softly, nervously, “You should’ve left me at the clinic, huh? I can’t protect you like this; I’m doing the exact opposite. I just… damn, I wanted to show you I can pull my own weight, that I can help… to prove to you that… I can do good, yet, I’m about to get us killed…”

The other was shaking her head slowly the whole time Moira spoke, a small smile on her lips, and when she finished speaking, Angela responded, “Do good? Please, I trust you, I know you weren’t lying to me when you said you wanted to change… you don’t need to prove anything to me. You don’t need to pull your own weight around the clinic, just the company is… well, it’s brought back some humanity to me, brought back some good memories of the past, and I’ve enjoyed your company more than you might think, more than I ever thought. I'm glad you came with me because you mean a lot to me; it’s been fun again with you around.” She moved beside Moira and wrapped her arm around her. Moira hung her head downwards and Angela noticed a few tears roll off the geneticist’s face and onto her pants, her hands balled into fists as she tried desperately to keep her sobs silent, her whole body jerking with each sob as Angela gently rubbed her back.

Angela continued to watch her, her sobs, and the tears that fell, soft blue eyes following each one before she closed them. She took a deep breath in, and opened her eyes once again, a smile spreading across her face as she placed her hand under Moira’s chin and brought her face up to look at her.

Moira’s eyes and cheeks were wet from tears as she stared at the angel beside her and she felt that it was better now than never, she had to tell her, she needed to know. “Angela, I want to… no, I need to tell you something, I—” 

A single finger rose up to Angela's lips which caused Moira to stop midsentence as she looked at Angela with risen eyebrows and questioning, wet eyes. She took her finger away from her lips reached across to gently caress the side of Moira’s face. “You’ll be fine.” She said to the crying woman. Moira opened her mouth to say something but before she could speak Angela shoved her to the ground and, in one swift movement, almost as if she had her wings back, she stood, leaped over the counter, and confronted the omnic. She pulled her pistol out of its holster and held it straight out in front of her as her narrowed eyes looked down the sights. Her mouth was curled into a half-grin, and her hands trembled ever-so-slightly as she aimed right at the omnic’s head and whispered, “You’ll be fine…” and pulled the trigger.


	8. Wakizashi

The bullet breezed by the omnic’s head, scraping some rusted metal off from the face as he turned his full attention to where Angela was. “That’s right, I’m right here…” She said through quickened breaths as she backed away from the omnic, pistol held out in front of her as shots rang out as she fired more bullets at the omnic, her aim shakier than before. Moira glanced over the counter, fists clenched tightly into balls, knuckles white, as she watched the omnic point his arm-like weapon towards Angela, a blue light shining from it before the blasts shot forward, smoke rising from the barrel. Angela managed to dive behind the fountain as the first shot hit where she had been standing and she held her arm out in front of her face as debris and broken tile flew upwards into the sky from the shot. The next two shots hit the fountain’s basin as Angela pressed her stomach to the ground, the basin’s rim crumbling from the shots as half of the fountain became nothing more than rubble. The omnic pulled his smoking weapon back to his side, the metallic arm was now glowing red. Angela peeked out from the fountain and, seeing the weapon which looked to be overheating, decided this was her best shot to fully distract the omnic and so Moira could begin sneaking away to safety before Angela did the same.

Sitting up on her feet in a crouching position behind the fountain, Angela reached around the basin to fire towards the omnic’s weapon, trying to break it. The bullets hit the arm and the omnic’s torso, leaving small holes in the metal, but the omnic didn’t even flinch from the shots nor did they even slow him down as he charged towards where the pistol shots rang out. Angela jumped up to a standing position, stepping around the fountain as the omnic charged into the side of the fountain where Angela was before she moved, breaking the stone feature further. She used the fountain as cover, sidestepping around it as the omnic tried to find and catch her, walking around the fountain and slamming his fists either into the air or into the side of the fountain, further breaking it. Moira felt her heartbeat quicken, her skin paling, and stomach-churning as she watched the dance of death between the bot and Angela. Finally, the enemy had enough of Angela’s fleetfooted dodges, running at a speed faster than any human could achieve towards where he heard her footsteps. She jumped into the fountain’s basin, stumbling on the trash and debris that was swimming in murky water at the bottom. She glanced down, trying to find her footing, the sludge slowing her movement speed, and when she glanced back up the omnic was standing right in front of her.

“Run!” She shouted out to Moira, eyeing where she hid before the omnic’s punch reached her. She barely was able to block it with the side of her pistol, arm shaking instantly as the punch hit the weapon, the force pushing her back against the spout of the fountain. Her jaw tightened into a groan as she felt the sharp ridges of the spout slam against her back, her strength quickly ebbing away as the omnic showed no signs of giving up. Her eyes darted between him and where Moira was, and she managed to breathe a small sigh of relief when she was Moira climbing over the counter, staying low to the ground as she began sneaking away from the scene before her. The relief was short-lived as Angela looked back at the omnic, clenching her eyes shut, barring her teeth as she pushed back against his hand with her pistol trying to keep him at bay on the while thinking about her next course of action; however, much to her disbelief, the pistol slipped from her hand and splashed into the water below, causing her to stumble forward, the omnic’s punch barely missing her as she caught her fall by placing her hands on the basin’s rim. She stood, stepping back and away from the omnic who also straightened up as she crossed her hands in front of her, time seemingly slowing down. The omnic’s head turned to where the splash was as Angela’s breaths were hard and fast and she realized that this was her only moment to try to escape. She began to jump out of the basin, but the omnic was too quick, grabbing her frail neck in his large, cold hand. He lifted her up in the air as she desperately tried to escape from his grasp, kicking her feet at his body in a frantic struggle to free herself, her hands coming up to his, fingernails clawing at the metallic hand around her neck as tears began to fill up her eyes and her breath began to hitch in her throat which began to burn and caused her to cough, trying desperately to breath, but not being able to, as blood splattered against the omnic’s body from her weakening coughs as she began to lose consciousness.

Moira watched the horrific scene in front of her, and, instinctively she stood up and yelled at the top of her lungs, “Angela!” The omnic’s head veered towards her and she jumped back against the counter she was in front of, realizing what she had just done, realizing that it now knew she was here. The omnic threw Angela’s body to the side and her body hit the floor hard, rolling across the tiles before stopping limply. Moira looked away from where Angela’s body lay, biting her lip as she turned her attention to the omnic who was preparing to shoot towards her. She tried to slow her breathing to quiet herself down and tried to push the fear away—this was life or death for not just her, but Angela as well, and she couldn’t just hide or sneak away or cower like she wanted to, or else Angela would pay the ultimate price. She stood perfectly still as the weapon charged and, as the first shot blared out of the weapon straight at her, Moira faded away, silently appearing slightly behind the omnic as she crouched and inched her way to where Angela was. The omnic fired two more shots where Moira once was before walking over to see if her body was there. As he knelt she managed to reach Angela and tried to pick her up, feeling a sense of happiness wash over her at the fact that she was still breathing. Moira cradled her legs under one arm and her upper back under the other. She stood and staggered a few steps away, arms already weakening, as she realized she had lost much of her already lackluster amount of strength since coming to the clinic. The omnic, who, by now, realized he hadn’t hit Moira, was searching for her, head turning in every direction as he began to step towards where he had thrown Angela’s body. Moira gritted her teeth, her arms drooping slightly, nails digging into Angela as she tried to keep hold of her; regardless of how she felt, how difficult this was, she pressed onward, taking slow steps to make sure she didn’t make any noises, keeping her breathing down even though she wanted to groan and take large laps of oxygen. Suddenly, Angela coughed as she awoke, curling up further into Moira, who’s breath got caught in her throat the second Angela made the noise. “Shhh…” Moira whispered, but it was too late. She heard the heavy footsteps rushing towards her as she began to try to run away from the approaching omnic, unable to fade while holding Angela; however, between the uneven flooring and the weight in her arms, she couldn’t keep her footing. Trying to cradle Angela from the fall, Moira twisted her body to land on her right shoulder, taking much of Angela’s impact onto herself as she let out a scream of pain when she hit the floor. Her nails clawed at the ground as she turned herself around onto her back, ignoring the intense pain in her shoulder as she managed to wrap her arms around Angela’s shoulders and chest and began trying to drag her away from the omnic. It was, clearly after only a few seconds, futile, both because of the speed of the omnic and her own pain in her shoulder and a new, sharper pain in her side where the stitches were. She glanced down at her stomach where blood was beginning to drench her button-up shirt and she felt a wave of dizziness hit her. With the last of her strength, she pulled Angela into her lap, cradling her, Moira’s whole-body trembling. “I don’t want to die…” She whispered out loud, tears falling down her cheeks, hitting Angela on the shoulder.

Angela had tried her best to help Moira by pushing herself across the floor, not having the ability to stand, while the other woman pulled, but when she felt Moira’s arms wrap around her, her back resting against the other’s chest, she knew that Moira couldn’t find the strength to get them both away. She heard Moira’s whisper and brought her hand up to Moira’s, gently tracing the back of her hand with her thumb, “It’s alright… I’m here with you…” Her voice was hoarse and she let out a harsh cough when she finished speaking.

“A-Angela… I…” Moira muttered, pressing her face into the other woman’s hair, squeezing her gently, “I couldn’t run when you told me, I couldn’t protect you, I… I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be, I don’t regret one single moment of being with you. Not even this moment…”

The women curled close together, eyes closed, Moira sobbing into Angela’s hair, Angela smiling gently as she continued to trace the other’s hand, as both waited for the omnic. A loud thud caused both of them to startle, looking up quickly to see the omnic’s severed head on the ground, the bot’s body slumping over and falling with a metallic thud while a cyborg ninja stood behind the fallen foe, blade drawn out to his side.

“G… Genji!” Angela gasped at the sight before her, a wide-open smile appearing on her face as she brought her hands to the ground to support herself.

Moira stared past Angela’s shoulder, letting go of Angela quickly to wipe her eyes, grimacing at the sight before her, "Oh great, it’s Genji…”

Angela jutted her gently in the stomach with her elbow as Genji put his sword away, walking towards them as he said amusingly, laughter in his voice, “Looks like I finally get to repay you for saving me all those years ago, Angela.”

She giggled in response, “Indeed, and I... we are ever so thankful.”

Moira plastered on a fake smile, her red eye twitching slightly as she thought about how Genji was going to ruin everything between Angela and her and how their whole dynamic was about to change.


	9. Lab Coat

The walk back to the clinic was… well, something. 

Firstly, Angela tried to get Genji to carry Moira back, as her stitches had come undone in the fight and blood was pooling around her. But that, that wasn’t happening, not on Moira’s watch.

“Why not?” Angela asked in a hoarse voice as soon as Moira denied help from Genji. She was knelt beside Moira, looking at her wound as Moira sat on the floor, her legs cradled in front of her, her shoes hiding her toes which were curled up from the pain. Genji stood above them, watching silently as Angela worked to stop the bleeding.

“Because I said so,” Moira replied, trying to bite back the pain she was feeling from the fight. She winced when Angela began to clean the wound and reached up to grip her hurt shoulder with her uninjured arm.

“But you’re injured!” She snapped back as soon as she saw Moira’s reaction. “I can stop the bleeding and Genji can carry you, it’ll hurt if you walk all the way back—"

“As the patient, it is my right to deny care.” She muttered, still holding her shoulder, one eye closed as Angela continued to work on her.

“You can deny care all you want, but as your doctor in this ‘land without morals’ as you called it, I can force you to accept his help.” Her reply made Moira chuckle as she thought of how much Angela had changed thus far.

“Oh, now you forget those doctor morals when it suits you, hm? Listen, if he so much as touches me, I will struggle the whole way back to the Clinic.”

“I can just leave you here—”

“Oh, please, that threat is so empty by now and you know it. Just clean it up and fix it enough that I can walk back by myself. I can endure the pain.” She tried to sound confident, but, surprisingly, she didn’t have the best pain tolerance. Even back when she experimented on herself, the arms of the chair she sat in to inject herself was scratched to hell from her nails as it was the only way for her to get through the pain that rushed through her veins with each injection.

“Fine.” Angela’s voice brought her back from her thoughts and she smirked, knowing she once again won an argument against the stubborn doctor.

“I think it’s best for her to walk anyhow, if anyone needed to feel some more pain, it’s her.” Genji finally spoke as Angela began opening her bag that was filled with medical supplies. 

“You sound like her the first time we met in this apocalyptic world…” Moira said in a snide voice, not looking at the ninja for Moira cared little about him and his thoughts and cared only about the angel working on her.

After fixing her wound up enough for her to walk without her losing more blood, Angela then checked on her shoulder, which was, thankfully, only dislocated. After a quick push back into the socket, which Moira’s mouth contorted into a large grimace as she mashed her teeth together and dragged her nails across the ground from the pain, she was good to go. Then, Angela checked herself, but she had only bad bruises around her neck and a few scratches, and now that she was getting a normal amount of oxygen, she should be able to walk back just fine. 

With that, the trio began heading back. Moira trailed behind the two, listening to their conversation as she gazed at Genji. He still had his normal mechanical suit, but the suit clearly had seen better days. The color was less bright and showed a bit of rust in areas, but overall, it was well kept. He wore a long brown jacket, which was currently opened in the front, and an oversized hood that covered much of his face from view.

“I thought everyone from Overwatch was… well, dead honestly.” Angela’s voice was scratchy and hoarse from the incident, making Moira feel guilty for being unable to move earlier. Neither of them would be injured if she had been able to just follow Angela’s plan, and then Genji wouldn’t have looked all heroic saving them…

“Oh no, quite the contrary, Overwatch members are being called back to help end the war,” Genji responded, causing Moira’s eyes to widen upon hearing that Overwatch was regrouping. 

“Really?” Angela gasped, “I haven’t heard anything!”

“That’s why I’m here, Zenyatta told me about it, actually.”

“How is Zenyatta? Is he well during this war? I worried about him when the fighting broke out.”

“He’s been good; he’s been helping those filled with anger find peace with themselves and others again. I’ve been a Runner for him, bringing supplies for those who he is helping.” 

“That’s great, oh you’re a Runner..." 

Moira stopped listening to their conversation, her mind filling with a whirlwind of thoughts. Mainly, what Genji had said, that Overwatch was regrouping. What did that mean for the clinic? For Angela? For her? For them? Was she going to leave—Moira’s train of thought disappeared as she scowled, her hand coming to grip the wound on her side, her long nails digging into her wet and sticky shirt, the blood starting to dry on the fabric. She staggered to a stop, falling further behind the two as she breathed a small sigh, closing her eyes, and forced herself to continue walking slowly, her legs shaking from the pain. Angela glanced behind her while talking to Genji, her smile instantly changing to a worried expression, “Moira!” Angela’s voice caused her to glance up as the woman came over to her, gently taking her hand, “Is it hurting badly?” 

Moira smiled softly at Angela’s worry, but that smile quickly disappeared. “It’s not bad.” She lied, biting the inside of her cheeks to keep from groaning in pain. 

Angela put her shoulder under Moira’s arm, letting her lean on her as she began helping her walk. “The clinic is just up ahead…”

Genji came back to the two of them, reaching a hand out to her, “I can help—”

“No,” Moira said quickly, cutting Genji off.

Angela sighed, “Just… don’t.” She said to Genji, eyeing him. “She doesn’t want your help…”

Genji stayed silent, staring at the two of them for a few seconds. Angela’s face was full of worry as she was focusing on Moira, and Moira’s face full of pain, but for a split second she glanced at the ninja in front of her and grinned smugly at him. He turned around after seeing her grin and began walking in front of them, saying nothing. Moira’s smug grin stayed on her face despite the pain as she decided this as a big win for her against Genji as Angela’s attention was fully on her and she continued to dote on her all the way back to the clinic. One for her, zero for him, and no, she wasn’t about to count him saving the two of them as a win for him.

Genji opened the entrance for the two and began closing it as Angela quickly helped Moira get onto her bed. She then went to clean and glove her hands, before returning with her equipment to close the wound with. She began to lift the other’s shirt up before Moira pulled it down.

“Um, can he maybe stand outside?” Moira asked, trying to make her voice sound soft and worried.

Angela paused, thinking it over before turning towards Genji, “Can you wait outside please until we’re done?”

Genji stayed quiet, looking between the two before nodding and leaving, causing Moira to nearly giggle with glee at how Angela was listening to everything she said. Because she was in such a good mood (and because Angela had been doing everything she wanted) she allowed the doctor to fix the wound with little struggle, the new stitches going smoothly, with only a small pinching feeling like the only pain. 

“What’s wrong with Genji?” Angela asked while she was finishing the stitching up.

“Everything,” Moira muttered, watching her work.

“He saved our lives.” Angela pointed out, reaching for her scissors.

Moira sighed, “Yeah, he did, there’s just… bad blood between us, Angela, back when we worked with Reyes at Blackwatch.”

She began to pull her gloves off as she had just finished closing the wound back up, “He changed a lot after Blackwatch though.”

“And he doesn’t think I’ve changed any, I can see it in the way he acts around me.”

“Well, if need be, I can vouch for you. Sometimes change is a straightforward process, you get out of a bad situation and meet people who help you become better, but other times it takes a while and is a messy process, but… I can see the change in you, just from that omnic battle.” Her hands came up to her mouth, “Uh, sorry, I-I don’t know if um, I can say that word…”

Moira laughed, “Omnic? You can say that around me… I uh… I’m sorry for how I acted back there—”

Angela placed a hand on Moira’s shoulder, looking at her with soft eyes, “Don’t be sorry.” She whispered, “It isn’t your fault that you couldn’t react. It was… a horror-like situation anyway, especially with um, those omnics that hurt you…” Moira looked down at the bedsheets at the mention of them. “Are you going to be alright? Do you need to talk or—”

“I’ll be fine. I am fine. I uh, I don’t want to think about what happened right now. Maybe one day, but not now.” Moira said in a low voice.

“Of course,” Angela took her hand away, her eyes falling for a split second before she narrowed them. “That shirt is ruined.” She muttered, looking at the blood-drenched shirt. 

Moira looked at the large patch of blood on the ruined shirt, “Well, makes me fit in more here since your lab coat is covered in blood.” 

“No, you can’t keep wearing that, there's far too much blood dried on it…” Angela said before she snapped her fingers, “That’s it!” She then went off to her room, coming back with an old lab coat, “Ta-da! It’s, well, not brand-new, but better than my current one. I’ve been saving it for… uh, it doesn’t matter, just… it’s yours now, a gift, from me!” She smiled an infectious smile, one that Moira couldn’t help but smile back. 

Moira was looking between her and the lab coat, “I… thanks, um, are you sure you don’t want it? I can take your old-uh-older one?” Moira said as Angela draped the lab coat over the other’s legs.

“It's alright,” Angela said, shaking her head, “I’ll just get more blood on me later anyways and then ruin it… it’s been a trend lately. Can’t keep anything nice as a doctor.” 

Moira took the lab coat in her hands as she, carefully, sat up in bed to change her shirt. As she began taking the button-up shirt off, she glanced upwards, and her face began turning red when she saw Angela staring at her intensely, a small blush on her own face. “Uh…”

“O-oh, sorry, I was staring, wasn’t I? Ah…” Angela began to stutter, hiding her reddening cheeks in her hands. “I’ll um, I’ll… yeah.” She quickly turned around, crossing her arms around her as she waited.

Moira felt her own body start to heat up as she took the shirt off and began to put the lab coat over the naked top half of her body.

“What?” Angela piped up, causing Moira to look back up at her again, “No quips? No remarks? No nothing? Lost that sharp tongue of yours?”

Moira glared at the other’s back as she picked up her old shirt and threw it at Angela, causing both to laugh as Angela turned around, picking up the bloodied plaid shirt from the floor, her eyes falling on Moira. “Oh wow, that lab coat looks great on you!” 

Moira still had a small blush on her face, and she nodded at Angela’s comment, “Yeah, I always thought I looked great in lab coats. It’s been a while since I’ve rocked the old scientist look.”

“You should rock it more often,” Angela said, sitting down on the side of the bed next to Moira.

Moira leaned a little closer to her, “Only for you…” Angela’s hand came up to her mouth as she giggled, turning her head to the side shyly; however, the moment was interrupted by a loud metallic banging. 

Angela jumped up off the bed, “Oh, Genji!” She went to the door to call to him, “You can come in now!” 

Moira leaned against the back of the wall, crossing her arms in front of her, “Oh yeah, him.” She said out loud before muttering to herself, “Alright, well, I got her to kick him out for a little while, guess it’s now two for me, one for him…” 

Genji opened the metallic circular door again and closed it, leaning against the entrance as Angela began to leave the room, “Let me go to the washroom and clean up, give me a bit alright?” She asked, rushing off to the washroom, leaving Moira and Genji alone. 

The two stared at each other in silence. Genji stood still, staring straight at Moira, only moving a little to breathe. Moira laid on the bed, her back against the wall, arms crossed in front of her still, as she glared at the ninja, tapping her fingernail against her arm.

“So…” He finally broke the silence.

“So…”

“What… brings you here?” He asked.

“An injury. And you?” She muttered back, her replies sharp and to-the-point.

“I heard rumors about an angel-like doctor and, well Overwatch was looking for someone by that description.”

“Angela isn’t going to go with you…”

“You think she’ll stay here in this dilapidated clinic with you?” He stood from the wall, standing straight, “And what are you really after, O’Deorain?”

“I…” She muttered, her voice failing her, unsure of how to answer him since the reason why she stayed was that she wanted Angela.

“I know you’re not one to have more than one objective in mind. Not just that, but I know your personality, and I know Talon.”

“This war has changed me. I’m not with them anymore…” She glared at him, but his steady gaze caused her to look away from her.

He took a step towards her. “I highly doubt that. What are you after? What does Angela have that you want?”

“She doesn’t have anything—”

“Are you here to harm her?” He asked, his hand coming down to his sword.

“What? No!” Moira snapped, looking bewildered at such a comment.

“I don’t trust you, O’Deorain. I worked with you—”

“And I worked with you, Shimada. I know you never cared for me.” She spat back at him, finally looking at him again, and seeing him closer to her, seeing him with his hand on his sword, caused her to press her back completely against the wall, having nowhere else to go.

“And you cared little for me as well. I’m pretty certain you saw me less than human and more of a test subject.” 

“I’ve changed! How many times do I have to say—”

“Is she a test subject to you? Is this an experiment?”

“No! No… I don’t… she’s… I like… ugh…” She sighed, her hands coming up to rub her eyes, tired from all the questions.

“You know she’s only keeping you here because you’re injured, because you’re her patient—”

“She isn’t only keeping me here because of that…” Moira muttered back, but it was less for him and more for her.

“Well, isn’t it a little ironic that you keep getting hurt, thus forcing you to stay here longer.”

“It’s a coincidence.”

“There are no coincidences with you.”

“Shut up already you—"

“That’s better!” Angela said, coming back in, “Now, Genji, you said you were a Runner correct?”

The tension in the room disappeared as soon as Angela walked in, the two relaxing and grinning happily at her as if nothing had happened. Moira’s hands fell from her face as she placed them in her lap, the anger and stress she held on her expression was gone instantly at the sight of Angela. Genji’s let go of his sword’s hilt when she walked into the room.

“Yes, I am.” He responded to her, walking over to where she stood, near the staircase on the far back wall.

“I’ve been looking for more Runners, I need more supplies and anyone who’s ill should know where to go to get treatment—” She gestured towards Moira, “She’s been my only patient so far and hasn’t been the best patient…”

Moira looked shocked at her comment, placing a hand on her own chest as she gasped, “How can you say that in front of me!? I have been the best patient ever, you’re the one who hasn’t allowed me rest to heal, always needing me for something.” She rolled her eyes dramatically, causing Angela to giggle. Genji laughed too, but Moira could tell it was forced laughter as it was far more strained sounding.

“But she’s right, Genji,” Angela said when she finished giggling at Moira’s display. 

“I am?” Moira questioned, looking at her curiously.

“She is?” Genji also asked, sounding curious.

“She needs her rest, why don’t we take this conversation upstairs to my room, so we don’t interrupt her. I want to catch up and hear how everyone has been doing!”

“That’ll be fine.” He said, shrugging, and began heading to the stairs.

“Uh, no, not fine…” Moira interjected quickly, her eyebrows furrowed, “I’m wide awake, can’t you tell Angela? I’m not going to sleep or—”

She came over to Moira, taking her hand into hers, “It’s alright, Moira, even if you don’t sleep, just try to relax! Today… today was crazy, I think it’s important for both of us to rest, I just want to chat with Genji a little before he leaves, alright?”

Her mouth hung open as she tried to find a way to argue with her, but all she could manage was a quiet “Alright…”

She let go of her hand, giving her a small smile before leaving upstairs with Genji, their conversation about her camcorder and recordings to the Overwatch team was the last thing Moira heard before the door closed, then their conversations became muffled.

Moira pulled her legs up to her chest, leaning her chin against her knees, staring ahead in the darkened room, “Two for me, a million and one for him…” She mumbled to herself before looking down at the lab coat that she was wearing, “Well, at least she gave me a gift, she hasn’t given him anything, yet…” She paused for a moment, sliding her legs back down onto the bed as she continued to look at the lab coat, “Gifts… I wonder if…” She bit her lip, glancing over to the staircase then back at the front doorway. “What was it she said? Before… when we… she liked…” Moira put her hand on her head, trying hard to remember before the omnic attacked, “Um… chocolate! It was chocolate, Swiss chocolate… and wine, and coffee… and music…” She kicked her legs over to the side of the bed, letting her feet touch the ground, “I… bet the mall has some of those left, maybe on the second floor?” She stood quietly, taking a step towards the doorway, “But…” She paused, crossing her arms in front of her as her eyes fell to the floor, “What about that omnic? What i-if there’s more? I… can’t…” She sat back down on the bed, sighing, already shaking from the thought of them; however, when she heard Angela’s and Genji’s laughter upstairs she stood back up quickly, eyes narrowed, hands clenched, “No, I can do it… for her, to get her… attention, to get her gifts to pay her back to… show her I lo…” Her voice cut off as she faded towards the entry, deciding that was quieter than walking across the room. She pulled the door back as slowly as she could, flinching slightly from the sting of her newly stitched wound, but this time, she was more careful and made sure her stitches didn’t come out while opening it. As she stepped back out into the mall, she whispered to herself, “If I can pull this off… then it’ll be two million for me and only one million and one for him.” She then shut the door quietly before leaving the clinic to head deeper into the mall, repeating the shopping list in her head.


	10. Gifts

“Chocolate, music, wine, and coffee. There’s no way to make the coffee, though, so scratch that… and wine? I doubt this place has any, but chocolate and music I can do, her laptop can play—shit what was that?” Moira pressed her body against the stairwell and ducked down onto her knees, holding her breath for a few short seconds after a loud metallic noise made her stop listing the items, she was searching for out loud. Her heart was in her throat as she waited for the sound of omnic gunfire, but none came about. She sighed deeply, the fear subsiding as she stood back up, still pressed against the stairwell. “Come on, come on O’Deorain…” She muttered to herself, taking a shaky step up to the next stair, “You’re used to dangerous missions and working alone,” She finally pulled her back away from the stairwell and raced up the stairs, crouching down at the top and looking around to see if anyone was around or heard her, but there wasn’t any movement around her. The second floor looked the same as the first but with more stores and more rubble. Half of the roof had fallen in and blocked a majority of the second floor on the left side of Moira, but the storefronts in front of her and to the right of her were navigable. 

She made her way to the first store and glanced inside, hoping she could just peek inside each one and quickly move on if they didn’t have what she was looking for. Usually, before the war, you could peak into a store and peek inside to see if it had what you wanted, but now everything was a mess and unrecognizable with displays thrown around aimlessly. She stepped into the ramshackled store, the tiles shifting under her weight and she stumbled, catching herself on one of the broken tables nearby, hissing when she felt a splinter stick into her hand. Wincing, she yanked it out with her sharp nails, a little blood trickling across her thumb. She glanced up and took in her surroundings, crossing her arms in front of herself as she suddenly had an intense feeling to just go home, cut her losses, show Angela nothing. 

“No.” She muttered under her breath, quiet enough that only she could hear it, her eyes now narrowed as she searched the room quickly, quietly, crouched and ready to fade at the first sign of trouble. There wasn’t a chance she was going back without anything to show Angela, that would be admitting defeat at the hands of Genji—at least, that’s how she motivated herself. The store didn’t have anything, just dirt and wooden displays, everything else had been taken, but she didn’t let that disappoint her as she moved onto the next store, the mall, thankfully, silent. 

The next store looked more promising since as soon as she stepped into the store something gummy stuck to the bottom of her shoe. She peeled it off, the gumminess leaving a sticky residue underneath, and she realized it was a gummy bear. There were more gummies on the floor, and a candy package that had been chewed through nearby. This shop looked much the same as the other: dusty, messy, unlived in, with things thrown about, but it had a lot of items on the ground from empty bottles to half-full drinks and candies. The sides of the room had canisters, which were now broken, but you could tell that they used the hold candy, and the walls had many colors painted on them, although all were dull in color by now. Immediately, she went to the back of the store, where the registers used to be and where chocolate bars would be shown to tempt the buyers. Wrappers lined the ground and amongst them, she found a bar of chocolate, but it was half-eaten, and she tossed it back onto the ground. As it hit the ground with a clap, she heard scuffling across the floor and, reacting without thinking, she Faded back to the entrance, crouched low, her breath quick, heart racing, as her imagination jumping from one omnic form to another, as she forced herself to peek back inside. A small white mouse raced across the floor to a hole on the other side of the room, disappearing within the wall. Moira stayed, watching, waiting, to see if anything else came about, but nothing did, and she let out a sigh of relief, standing back up with weakened legs. Her eyes fell to the ground as she slowly walked back in, fear still on her mind as she began to search once again, this time quicker, and more attentive, waiting for something bad to come about. She fell to her knees, pressing her shoulder onto the dirty ground to reach her arm under the old cabinet where the register used to be and her fingers twitched when she felt something hard and cold against the tips of her fingers. She grasped it in her hand and pulled it out, a small smile crossing her face as she held an uneaten, undeserved, chocolate bar. 

“It’s isn’t Swiss chocolate, but it’ll do.” She muttered to herself, holding onto it as she reached back under the cabinet looking for more, pushing away paper and trash, before pulling out another uneaten bar of chocolate. She decided to try for one more, reaching underneath, but she yanked her hand back when she felt something furry brush against it and she shook her hand, “I’ll uh, yeah I’ll leave the rest for you little guys.” She spoke softly to the animal inhabitants of the store and she stood, leaving the store to go onto the next one, now in search of music.

The next two stores down from the candy shop weren’t enterable as a large pillar blocked it and the opening was collapsed. Even the large window beside the door was crushed to the point where no human could enter. Further down, the next store was completely empty, not even a display was left, the whole place had been cleared away. The time was ticking down, and she didn’t want to be gone too long, as she was afraid Angela would learn of her absence and worry, or disapprove, or confide in Genji, and that was something she did NOT want happening. Chocolate in hand, she entered the fourth store and felt slightly uncomfortable from the sights. There was trash everywhere, and a horrid smell lingered in the air. She became antsy, eyes twitching back and forth as she shifted her weight from one side to the other. She thought about just leaving and abandoning this store, but there were old radios, half-broken, lining the shelves, and much of the displays were left untouched, the only sign that this store was in disrepair was the large amounts of trash that littered the ground and the cobwebs lining the corners. Clearly, there had to be some music in here—a CD, hopefully one with songs that Angela would know, but if not, then they could learn them together. She pinched her nose with her free hand and began to pursue through the displays, aisle by aisle—the store was surprisingly large and had multiple sections. Some had VHS tapes, others had records, one aisle had tapes, and Moira began to realize that she was in a vintage type shop, and she might not find what she wanted. Furthermore, the trash beneath her was up to her shins, as she was wading through who-knew-what. She made it to the far back of the shop, and the smell began to overtake her senses, her stomach churning, mouth wetting, as she began feeling ill. The corner had newspapers, receipts, and other paper piled up, and was where the smell was coming from. She turned her head away but jerked it to a stop, eyes widening, when she saw something reflecting the one light in the whole place. A disk sat a little away from the pile, and Moira stepped over lightly to it, picking it up with hope. She turned it around and saw the title, “Best Pop Songs of ...” the rest was unreadable, but she clutched onto the CD like her life depended on it.

“Yes!” She shouted, but as quickly as she shouted, she regretted it and she brought her hands, and the items in them, up her mouth, eyes large, as she stared in front of her. There were people—humans—sleeping on newspapers, two adults and a child. The child began to stir, and Moira backed away slowly. The child propped herself up, sitting up to look around the room, but Moira had already vanished, faded away, back to the entrance of the store, glancing into the vintage shop. The child had stood, rubbing her eyes, her hair a knotted, dirty, mess, along with her clothes, her body frail, but otherwise she didn’t look hurt from Moira’s observation. Her eyes softened at the sight of the girl, a pang of guilt spreading throughout her as her gaze dropped down to the ground. A small, sad smile crossed her face as she took one of the chocolate bars and slid it on the floor into the middle of the shop, the girl turning her attention to it. Her face beamed with excitement as she ran over to it, picking it up, and running back to, supposedly, her parents. Moira left the store, heading back to the Clinic, not wanting the parents to search for who gave their daughter the candy bar. She still felt guilty, but decided that this wasn’t all her fault, and besides, she was going to help fix this, little by little, with Angela. That was her goal, now, to fix the mess she had helped make for this world. But her current goal was to see Angela's look on her face when she presented her with these gifts, to make the former angel happy, and to return the favor of the lab coat. What wasn't in her current goal was Genji, yet as soon as she entered the Clinic, there he was, standing in the entrance, almost as if he was waiting for her to return.

"O'Deorain."

"... Shimada"


	11. Sweetness

Genji stood in the center of the clinic, Angela nowhere in sight. “Where were you?” He asked her, and her eyes narrowed at him.

She hid the chocolate and the CD behind her back, “I don’t have to tell you anything.” She snarled, her voice low, shoulders hunched, as she began to walk past him, “Angela’s upstairs still? Is she awake?”

Genji stood still, not answering, but when her shoulder hit his in the blink-of-an-eye he grabbed her arm, causing her to drop what she was holding as he yanked her against the wall, medical equipment falling to the ground with a loud clank. His sword pressed against her neck as he had her pinned down, their faces close to each other. “If you harm Angela, even just a hair on her head, I will kill you.” He pressed the sword closer to her neck, her mouth curled in a half-smirk, her teeth showing.

“Don’t worry…” She hissed, eyebrows raised at him as she pressed her head against the wall, trying to get away from the cold blade threatening to bleed her dry, “I have no intentions to hurt her, it’s quite the opposite, actually.” 

“Your words are meaningless to me, your actions will tell me the truth, in time.” Moira faded away from his sword and his grip, appearing behind him. Genji stood up straight, seething his blade, not surprised by her actions as he had fully expected her to Fade from him. Instead of attacking him or running away, though, she began to pick the gifts up from the ground. He turned to watch her, not moving, not saying anything, as she stood back up and eyed him.

“Well? Anything else? Want to pin me to the wall again, it’s a dream for many people you know—”

“Shut it. Just know that if I hear anything, any news about your hurting her, physically, mentally, I will kill you.” With that, he began to go towards the clinic’s exit.

Moira looked a little surprised, tilting her head, “You’re not staying?”

“My work here is done; I met with Angela, and she gave me a task—that’s it.” Without turning around, he waved at her, “She isn’t asleep, go upstairs and give her your gifts and stop thinking of me as a rival…”

She turned on her heels, huffing, “I-I have no idea what you’re talking about…”

“You’re still such a liar.” He chuckled, “Good luck.” With that, he began to open the heavy metallic door. Moira left him, muttering curse words directed towards Genji under her breath, but as soon as she made it to Angela’s door, she cleared her throat and breathed a deep sigh before knocking, the gifts cradled under her arm.

“Come in!” 

She walked into Angela’s familiar room, the woman was sitting on her bed, writing in a small notebook as she glanced up at Moira and smiled a smile that caused all of Moira’s agitation to disappear.

“What are those?” Angela asked, quickly noticing the items Moira had.

She blushed in response, “Gifts… um, to repay you for… everything… and more.” She muttered; her voice soft. “Um, may I…” She gestured toward the bed.

“Of course, come sit,” Angela said, patting the space beside her on the bed while still curiously looking at the gifts as Moira sat beside her. She sat the CD to the side, for now, and produced the chocolate bar to Angela.

“It’s not Swiss but—”

“Chocolate!” Angela’s face lit up and Moira’s reddened further at the other’s expression. “You found chocolate? When… wait—you went out into the mall without me, didn’t you?” Her bright expression changed to a scowl as Moira rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, turning to look away from her.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that—”

“It’s dangerous, Moira! Especially since we ran across that omnic! Don’t… I mean,” Angela sighed, taking the chocolate into her hands, “I appreciate this greatly, but next time please let me come with you. I can help you, protect you, plus you’re injured, and you shouldn’t… ah, sorry,” Angela muttered, looking down at the chocolate bar, “we don’t need a lecture right now. Let’s enjoy your hard work together!” Moira looked back as Angela opened the chocolate bar, breaking it in half and handing her one half. Both women began to nibble on the chocolate, Angela’s eyes closed as she let the taste melt onto her tongue. Moira, on the other hand, just ate it normally, not that fascinated with the taste of food, but still, it was nice to eat something from the world before the war. “This is the best…”

“Even though it isn’t Swiss chocolate?” Moira questioned as Angela took another small bite. 

“Mmm,” She answered, before swallowing, “I think it tastes better since I haven’t had any in such a long time, can’t be picky nowadays.” She paused for a second, glancing over at Moira, a little blush on her face, “And the company makes it better too, especially when they’re not complaining about your medical work…”

Moira rolled her eyes before taking a large bite of the chocolate, hers was almost already gone while Angela still had half left. “C’mon, I have one more gift to show you.” With that, Moira stuffed the rest of the chocolate in her mouth before taking the CD in her hands and went to Angela’s laptop on the desk. “Ish it alwright to use this?” She asked, her mouth full of chocolate.

Angela giggled, “Sure,” she answered, taking another nibble. 

Moira then turned the laptop on, opening the disc component and put the CD in and shut it. Pop music began to blare throughout the room, causing Angela to jump from the sudden noise and Moira began to frantically try to turn it down. Finally, the music was a decent volume, and she stood back up and faced Angela, “Uh, it’s music—I mean, duh… um, I found a CD of some pop music, since you missed music… it’s probably not your music, but, it’s something…” She shrugged, smiling, as Angela closed her eyes once again, listening deeply to the music.

“It’s been a while since I’ve heard music that wasn’t my own humming.” She said, opening her eyes and finishing the chocolate in her hand.

“Yeah, bet it’s nice to hear someone that isn’t tone-deaf making music—ah, sorry, sorry, it's a force of habit.” Moira chuckled as Angela opened her eyes and giggled.

“It’s alright, it was decent compared to your other jokes and jabs.” She giggled louder as Moira pursed her lips, trying to look upset, but her own laughter broke her expression. 

“Here,” She walked to Angela and took her hands into her own, “Let’s dance!”

“What? Dance? Oh no, no,” Angela shook her head, pulling a strand of hair back behind her ear, “I can’t dance!”

“Neither can I. It’ll just be the two of us, non-dancers, dancing…” Moira pulled on her hand, “Come on, it’ll be fun!” Angela, reluctantly let Moira pull her up to the middle of the room, and when Moira let go of her hands, the two started dancing together. Angela’s dancing style was controlled and slow, small movements, as she walked forward, shimming her hips, before walking backward, gracefully, almost gliding. Moira’s was the opposite, wild, fast-paced, a lot of movements from her legs to her hands. Angela began to giggle once again, and Moira felt a little embarrassed, as she knew Angela was laughing at her dancing.

“Here—take my hands…” Moira stopped and looked at Angela, who had her hands out, “Let me show you how I dance if that’s alright…”

Moira nodded her head, too out of breath to say anything as she placed her hands on top of Angela’s outstretched palms. Together, the two began to dance slowly, their hands wrapped around each other. 

“Ow…” Angela muttered as Moira stepped on her foot.

“S-sorry…”

“It’s alright, you’re learning… here, spin me.” Moira did as she was told, spinning Angela, but the spin led to Angela stumbling forward into Moira. Angela wrapped her arms around Moira for stability, their bodies touching, and she looked up at her, smiling softly, and Moira looked down at her, a giggle breaking out between the two of them as the music played on and they stayed in that position, holding one another for support, for survival, for something they both desired.

“You have a little chocolate on your lips.” Angela broke the giggling and the heated moment as she stood back up, “I’ll get it.” She wetted her fingertip and reached up to wipe the chocolate off the corner of Moira’s lip, but she brought her hand back down slowly, staring at Moira’s eyes before standing on her tiptoes and reaching up to place a small kiss on the corner of Moira’s lip.

Moira stayed completely still, mouth agape, as Angela pulled her head away, falling back onto her heels, and she bit her lip. “Sorry, I, um, I don’t know what got over me—” Before she could finish her sentence, Moira leaned down and kissed Angela on the lips, eyes closed, arms wrapped around her. Angela’s eyes widened, but they slowly closed as she let the kiss wash over her and take her the same way she let the chocolate and music wash over her, another gift to her, from Moira. She tangled her fingers in Moira’s hair as Moira hugged her tighter, pressing their bodies against each other, the two shared a deep, long kiss, before Moira finally broke it, pulling away from Angela. The two stared at each other, wide-eyed, but happy, jittery at touching another human being so intimately after so many years alone.

“You know…” Angela broke the silence as she shyly turned her head away from Moira, “There’s a bed in here…”

“I know.”


End file.
